Is color Doppler ultrasound really useless for prostate cancer screening?

Is color Doppler ultrasound really useless for prostate cancer screening? Recently, a list of "the most unreliable physical examination items" has been circulating online, and one of the top five is color Doppler ultrasound for prostate cancer screening. So is it really useless to screen for prostate cancer through color Doppler ultrasound? Why is it useless? Let the editor answer your questions below.

Is color Doppler ultrasound really useless for prostate cancer screening?

One of the items in the physical examination is abdominal color Doppler ultrasound. For men over 40 years old, there is also a "front color" prostate color Doppler ultrasound to screen for prostate cancer. Experts told reporters that this examination cannot detect early prostate cancer and is not even useful for diagnosis.

Color Doppler ultrasound really cannot identify whether it is benign hyperplasia or prostate cancer, because the manifestation of cancer is the same when the color Doppler ultrasound area is detected. Whether it is a nodule or a tumor, it cannot be distinguished from the color Doppler ultrasound. Color Doppler ultrasound is not even as reliable as digital rectal examination. The prostate is located at the bladder neck in front of the rectum and at the root of the penis. The back is adjacent to the rectum and is about 4-5 cm away from the anus. Therefore, it can be touched by digital rectal examination. The doctor can find the size, shape, elasticity, hardness, tenderness, etc. of the hyperplasia or nodule by touch. Through digital rectal examination, experienced doctors can find abnormalities. To rule out prostate cancer, PSA, also known as prostate-specific antigen, is generally checked. It is not only cheap, but also the most convenient and sensitive method for screening prostate cancer. If the blood indicators are not up to standard, an MRI examination is performed to confirm the diagnosis.

Expert: Color Doppler ultrasound cannot really identify whether it is benign hyperplasia or prostate cancer. This is impossible to distinguish because the manifestations of cancer are the same when detected in the color Doppler ultrasound area. Whether the nodules are inflammatory or hyperplastic nodules cannot be distinguished from color Doppler ultrasound or B-ultrasound. If you really want to distinguish whether it is prostate cancer, MRI should be the first choice. The cost is relatively high. We only do MRI examinations when we suspect prostate cancer clinically.

This MRI costs a total of one or two thousand yuan, which does not seem to be suitable for ordinary daily physical examination packages. When middle-aged and elderly men need to screen for prostate cancer, what kind of method should they use? Experts have proposed the prostate-specific antigen project, which is what we call the "PSA test."

Expert: Men over 50 should check PSA every one or two years, because if it is prostate cancer, the value will be relatively high. Generally, when we screen, we must first understand whether it is benign hyperplasia or malignant hyperplasia. How to distinguish between benign hyperplasia and malignant hyperplasia? We first check PSA. If PSA is high, we need to do further examination.

What can color Doppler ultrasound detect?

Medical ultrasound diagnosis is an emerging diagnostic method that uses the information obtained when ultrasound waves propagate in the human body to analyze and synthesize, and is used to diagnose diseases. There are many types of ultrasound imagers, and the classification is also complex. At present, they are generally divided into type A, type B, type M, type D and type CDF according to the characteristics of echo display. Among them, the most widely used is type B, which is commonly known as black and white B-ultrasound, and type CDF is commonly known as color ultrasound.

Color Doppler ultrasound, its full name is real-time two-dimensional color Doppler blood flow imager, it is a high-end medical equipment that integrates acoustic materials, information detection, electronic technology, microcomputer technology, image processing, precision technology and other multidisciplinary advanced technologies. It can instantly measure the movement direction, speed and distribution of blood cells in the human blood flow, and accurately display the blood flow of tissues. Color Doppler ultrasound is not a "color B-ultrasound", it is an advanced ultrasound diagnostic technology that combines black and white two-dimensional ultrasound with color Doppler blood flow imaging, and is the development direction of ultrasound diagnostic technology.

Color Doppler ultrasound is accurate, intuitive, simple and non-invasive in disease diagnosis. It can be used as the first choice for many diseases in clinical diagnosis, such as valvular heart disease, congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, cardiac tumors, cervical vascular disease, thoracic and abdominal vascular disease, occlusion and thrombosis of large blood vessels in the limbs, aneurysms and other cardiovascular diseases. It also has a high diagnostic value for coronary heart disease, arrhythmia and cor pulmonale. Color Doppler ultrasound is also the main method for early diagnosis of fetal and maternal diseases before birth. It is also an important examination method for diseases of the liver, biliary system, spleen, pancreas, kidney, ureter, bladder, prostate, seminal vesicle, adrenal gland, uterus, ovary, fallopian tube, thyroid, breast, testis, maxillofacial region and some muscle tissues. It can diagnose various types of lumps, stones and some inflammations in the above parts, and can make a relatively accurate preliminary judgment on the benign and malignant degree of the tumor.