Research Article

Assessment of Referrals into the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Service: Evaluation of Imaging Early in the Pathway Process

Table 2

Ultrasound/MRI diagnostic categories 1–8.

Category name description

(1) Normal—no abnormality seen.
(2) Benign cyst or ganglion cyst.
(3) Benign vascular lesion.
(4) Benign other—any lesion with either inflammatory characteristics or benign soft tissue mass.
(5) Lipoma—homogeneous lesion, none or linear septal vascularity, and no concerning clinical features.
(6) Lipoma requiring further evaluation:
 (i) clinically painful, enlarging, >5 cm in size, deep, and/or
 (ii) lipoma, but mild heterogenicity on ultrasound or MRI.
(7) Indeterminate—clinically painful, deep, >5 cm and/or enlarging solid mass, no Doppler flow.
(8) Possible sarcoma—solid, heterogeneous lesion, distortion of surrounding anatomy, and disorganized power Doppler flow.