The administration of secretin improves visualization of the pancreatic ducts and helps in the evaluation of exocrine reserve.

No abstract

Ultrasound was used for a serial evaluation of gallbladder modifications in 61 patients with acute viral hepatitis during both the acute phase of the illness and recovery. Most of the patients studied within 7 days from the onset of symptoms and/or jaundice showed sonographic abnormalities of the gallbladder (increased wall thickness, reduced volume, abnormal bile content). A normal ultrasound pattern of the gallbladder was progressively restored during the clinical recovery in most of the patients. A statistical correlation was found between the gallbladder wall thickness and the alanine transferase index.

Intraoperative ultrasonography of the liver was routinely performed during 86 elective surgical procedures for the treatment of primary colorectal malignancies, in search of intrahepatic metastatic deposits. Results were compared to preoperative diagnostic procedures and to direct evaluation of the liver at laparotomy. Different diagnostic modalities showed a definite scatter in the number of reported space‐occupying hepatic lesions. Solitary liver metastases were visualized in 6 patients by preoperative hepatic ultrasonography and in 5 patients by abdominal computed tomographic (CT) scan and by the operating surgeon at laparotomy; intraoperative ultrasonography disclosed solitary lesions in 8 patients. Multiple metastases were visualized in 10 patients by preoperative ultrasonography, in 11 by CT scan, and in 13 at laparotomy; intraoperative ultrasonography disclosed multiple lesions in 13 patients. Furthermore, operative hepatic sonography allowed the detection of an increased number of non‐neoplastic intraparenchymal lesions, promptly recognizing their solid or liquid nature. As a result of the systematic use of operative sonography for liver scanning during colorectal surgery, previously undetected neoplastic nodules as well as lesions escaping even the most accurate direct examination at surgery, were easily visualized.

The sonographic findings in eight cases of splenic infarct at their onset and at different phases of their development have been retrospectively analyzed. A wide range of appearances was seen (single or multiple, rounded or wedge-shaped, echo-free, hypoechoic, and hyperechoic lesions). In our opinion, such variable appearances are related to the age of the infarct (hypoechoic or echo-free in the earlier stages, hyperechoic in healed infarcts). A presumptive diagnosis is possible in the earlier stages since the detection of changes (in echogenicity and/or in size) over a period of time strongly suggests an infarct. On the other hand, a hyperechoic wedge-shaped lesion is fairly typical of healed infarcts.