SIGNIFICANCE OF “TWINKLING’’ ARTIFACT ON COLOUR DOPLLER ULTRASOUND IN DETECTION OF URINARY CALCULI

ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine the significance of twinkling artifact seen on colour Doppler imaging in diagnosis of urinary
calculi. Materials and methods: This study is a cross sectional study.It was conducted in Peshawar institute of medical
sciences from 1st February 2016 to 1st August 2016 during which 60 patients who presented with urinary symptoms
and were suspected of urinary stones were examined with gray scale ultrasound, colour Doppler ultrasound as well as
non contrast enhanced spiral CT scan using the later as the reference standard . RESULTS: A total of 90 stones were
detected in 60 patients by non-contrast spiral CT. Of the 90 stones, 60 (66.6%) caused a posterior acoustic shadow and
55 (61.1%) showed echogenicity on B-mode ultrasound, while 66 (73.3%) caused the twinkle sign on color Doppler
sonography. Conclusion: Identification of the twinkling artifact on colour Doppler ultrasound can improve ultrasound
detection of urinary calculi