Ultrasonography of the abdomen and pelvis
Author:
Mikael Häggström [notes 1]
Contents
Planning
- Choice of exam
For patients presenting with symptoms that are less specific for any certain organ, such as unspecific acute abdominal pain, consider an abdominal/pelvic CT instead.
- At least 6 hours of fasting[notes 2]
Exceptions:
- The target structures are known to be superficial to any intestines
- The case is emergent enough to justify a suboptimal exam
Locations
General screening
Upper abdomen
For symptoms of the upper abdomen, it is a proper custom to perform a general screening of the following locations:
- Pancreas, mainly for dilatation of the pancreatic duct, or obvious tumors.
- Liver, for echogenicity and focal changes.
In case of suspected pathology, see: Ultrasonography of the liver - Hepatorenal recess for ascites.
- Biliary tract, for gallstones (see Ultrasonography of gallstones) and dilatation of the intrahepatic or extrahepatic bile ducts. The common bile duct is normally up to 8 mm.[1] Further information: Basic screening of the biliary tract.
- Spleen, mainly for size, where 11 cm is a common cutoff.
In case of suspected pathology, see: Ultrasonography of the spleen
Also, it is generally easy to have a quick glance at the kidneys just to exclude hydronephrosis.
In case of suspected pathology, see: Ultrasonography of the urinary system
- Report
Example in a normal case:
Gallbladder with thin wall and no gallstones. Normal width of the intra-and extrahepatic bile ducts.
Liver with normal echogenicity and no focal lesions.
Normal head and body of the pancreas.
Normally sized spleen.
- See also: General notes on reporting
Lower abdomen
Ultrasonographies of the lower abdomen can generally be focused on the condition requested in the referral.
Diseases and conditions
Biliary tract
Appendicitis
Aneurysm
Cirrhosis
Epigastric bulding
Notes
- ↑ For a full list of contributors, see article history. Creators of images are attributed at the image description pages, seen by clicking on the images. See Radlines:Authorship for details.
- ↑ Otherwise high risk of intestines obscuring the organ of interest.
- NU Hospital Group, Sweden
References
- ↑ Hoeffel, Christine; Azizi, Louisa; Lewin, Maité; Laurent, Valérie; Aubé, Christophe; Arrivé, Lionel; Tubiana, Jean-Michel (2006). "Normal and Pathologic Features of the Postoperative Biliary Tract at 3D MR Cholangiopancreatography and MR Imaging ". RadioGraphics 26 (6): 1603–1620. doi:. ISSN 0271-5333.
