Abdominal ultra sonographic findings detected in the course of a hepatitis survey in an Egyptian rural area.

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of abnormal findings detected by abdominal ultrasonography (US) in an Egyptian rural area. This study was a part of a community based cross sectional survey for virus hepatitis carried out at Kalama village in Nile Delta, 40 kilometers north of Cairo. People above 10 years of age living in a 10% systemic random sample of houses in the village were subjects of this study. A member of the team carried out US examination of the liver, biliary tree, spleen, kidneys, pancreas, para aortic areas and the pelvis. Examination included morphological assessment and organometry. All results are recorded on images by videoprinter. Abnormalities in abdominal US was detected in 34% of examined cases. Abnormal liver impressions were detected in 28.3% of cases. Ascites was detected in 13 cases (1.8%). Diseases of the gall bladder and kidneys were detected in 2.7% and 2.1%, respectively. US diagnosed pregnancy in 5 women, one of them had a blighted ovum. Some of these abnormalities were detected in subjects with no complaint. It is concluded that abdominal US may be a tool for early detection of asymptomatic disease.