[Ultrasonographic examination of the liver and abdominal lymph nodes in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia].

Echography of the liver, gallbladder and abdominal lymph nodes was conducted in 85 patients with chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL). An increased size of the liver, splenic vein, thickening of the gallbladder wall were recorded at the initial stage of the disease. Echogenicity of the liver was lowered. A growth in the size of the right and left lobes of the liver with simultaneous proportional distention of the splenic vein lumen were observed in CLL patients at the stage of extended clinical symptoms of the disease; the diameter of vena cava inferior was increased and lost its capacity to change during respiration; the margins of the liver became rounded, the common bile duct was expanded, the gallbladder wall was thickened. The detection of enlarged abdominal lymph nodes is important in the diagnosis of CLL. The data obtained are of great significance in the diagnosis of the disease for verification of CLL stages. The ultrasonic method of investigation of the liver and gallbladder in CLL patients is of high information content, it is noninvasive, safe, and therefore should be widely used in the clinical practice.