title: Imaging features of pediatric pentastomiasis infection: a case report.
abstract: We report here a case of pentastomiasis infection in a 3-year-old girl who had high fever, abdominal pain, abdominal tension and anemia. Ultrasound scanning of the abdomen revealed disseminated hyperechoic nodules in the liver and a small amount of ascites. Abdominal MRI showed marked hepatomegaly with disseminated miliary nodules of high signal intensity throughout the hepatic parenchyma on T2-weighted images; retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy and disseminated miliary nodules on the peritoneum were also noted. Chest CT showed scattered small hyperdense nodules on both sides of the lungs. The laparoscopy demonstrated diffuse white nodules on the liver surface and the peritoneum. After the small intestinal wall and peritoneal biopsy, histological examination revealed parenchymal tubercles containing several larvae of pentastomids and a large amount of inflammatory cell infiltration around them. The pathological diagnosis was parasitic granuloma from pentastomiasis infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang Key Laboratory for the Diagnosis and Therapy of Neonatal Diseases, Zhejiang 310003, China. laican1@126.com
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Xi Qun
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: De Chun
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Hong Xi
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yi Ying
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yin Bao
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D010272:Parasitic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D057078:Pentastomida; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods