title: Prospective investigation of radiologic methods in the diagnosis of intra-abdominal abscesses.
abstract: A prospective investigation of conventional abdominal radiography, ultrasonography, computed tomography and 111In-labelled leucocyte scintigraphy was performed in 40 patients suspected of having an intra-abdominal abscess. There were 23 confirmed abscesses in the material. When conventional abdominal radiography indicated an abscess, such a lesion was usually present. The ability of abdominal radiography to exclude an abscess was, however, low. Both ultrasonography and 111In-labelled leucocyte scintigraphy detected 65 to 85 per cent of the confirmed abscesses, but both also revealed many abscess-like areas in patients where no unequivocal abscess was confirmed at follow-up. Computed tomography was, when employed as a single method, the most reliable one both to show and to exclude an abscess, However, the combination of ultrasonography and 111In-labelled leucocyte scintigraphy disclosed all the lesions demonstrated by any one of the four methods used in the investigation.
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D000038:Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007204:Indium; D007962:Leukocytes; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal; D011868:Radioisotopes; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D007204:Indium