Computerized tomography in the diagnosis of retroperitoneal fibrosis.

We evaluated 4 patients with surgically proved retroperitoneal fibrosis by computerized tomography and ultrasound. Retroperitoneal fibrosis was diagnosed correctly in all 4 patients by computerized tomography but was detected by ultrasound in only 1. On computerized tomography, retroperitoneal fibrosis demonstrated a characteristic soft tissue mass enveloping the abdominal aorta, inferior vena cava and ureters. Computerized tomography was capable of detecting the abnormality with greater reliability than ultrasound, and was far superior in delineating the extent of the process and its relation to adjacent abdominal structures. Computerized tomography is the method of choice in the preoperative evaluation evaluation of retroperitoneal fibrosis. It also is anticipated that computerized tomography will prove equally useful in the postoperative followup of this disease.