title: Ultrasound in the diagnosis of the early liver abscess.
abstract: An analysis has been made of the ultrasound studies of 29 patients with proven liver abscesses. Ten of these were first seen in the early stages of abscess formation and a detailed study of the echo characteristics has been made. Helpful features have been shown to include a peripheral echo-free halo, distal acoustic enhancement and progressive change over a short time. These features are highly suggestive of an early abscess and, in our experience, this combination is not seen in other space-occupying lesions of the liver. We consider them to have considerable diagnostic value.
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008100:Liver Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014463:Ultrasonography