Abdominal ultrasonography in patients with uncharacteristic abdominal symptoms.

Ultrasonography (US) was performed in a prospective study of 48 patients with uncharacteristic abdominal symptoms. All patients had been examined in other hospitals, but no diagnosis had been established. Pathologic US findings were encountered in five patients: fatty liver in two patients, gallstones in one patient, ovarian cyst in one, and liver metastases in another patient. US may be used as a diagnostic approach in patients with uncharacteristic abdominal complaints when conventional X-ray examinations are negative. In patients with psychosomatic disease a negative US result may be of importance in the psychiatric approach to these patients' disease.