Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of sonography as an initial diagnostic tool in patients with suspected ureterolithiasis. Methods. We performed a prospective study of 318 patients with suspected ureteral stones over a 14‐month period. All patients underwent sonography after fasting for 8 hours and bladder filling. If no cause of the flank pain was found by sonography, computed tomography or intravenous urography was performed immediately to confirm the absence of ureteral stones. Results. We found urolithiasis with sonography in 291 of 296 patients with confirmed urolithiasis. The 5 remaining cases were identified after non–contrast‐enhanced computed tomography (n = 3), intravenous urography (n = 1), or the passage of a stone (n = 1, pregnant patient). We detected 313 calculi in the 291 patients with sonography as follows: 307 ureteral calculi in 285 patients, 5 urinary bladder calculi that were probably passed from the ureter in 5 patients, and 1 urethral calculus. The locations of the 313 calculi in the 291 patients with a sonographic diagnosis were as follows: 21 were in the ureteropelvic junction, 96 in the proximal half of the ureter, 69 in the distal half of the ureter, 121 in the ureterovesical junction, 5 in the urinary bladder, and 1 in the urethra. Hydronephrosis was seen in 200 of the 291 patients with calculi identified by sonography (68.7%). Twinkling artifacts helped confirm the presence of tiny calculi in 184 of the 214 calculi (86%). Conclusions. Sonography can be used as an initial diagnostic tool in patients with suspected ureterolithiasis.

The purpose of this study is to describe the ultrasonographic findings of ovary-containing hernias of the canal of Nuck. This was a retrospective analysis of 22 hernia cases of the canal of Nuck. The following gray scale and color Doppler ultrasonographic features were analyzed: the site and the size of the hernia, the texture of the hernia contents, and the presence or absence of blood flow in the hernia contents. All of the patients had swelling of the right inguinal region (n=10), left inguinal region (n=8), or both (n=2). On ultrasonography, the hernias appeared as either solid masses (n=17) or solid masses containing cysts (n=5). The mean anteroposterior diameter of the hernia sac of the canal of Nuck was 9.1 mm (range, 5 to 18 mm). The mean anteroposterior diameters of the hernia sac were 11.6 mm (range, 7.6 to 18 mm) for hernias containing an ovary, and 8.3 mm (range, 5 to 13 mm) for hernias containing omental fat. During surgery, among the 17 cases with solid-appearing hernia contents on ultrasonography, omental fat was identified in the hernia sac in four cases, but no structure was identified in 13 cases. All five cases that appeared as solid masses containing cysts on ultrasonography contained ovary tissue in the hernia sac. Among the four cases of ovary-containing hernias, color Doppler ultrasonography identified blood flow within the ovary in three cases, but no flow signal was seen in one case of incarcerated hernia. Ultrasonography may be helpful for the diagnosis of ovary-containing hernias of the canal of Nuck by detecting solid masses containing small cysts.

Among four hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis guidelines and by using MRI with hepatobiliary contrast agent, Eastern guidelines offered higher sensitivity whereas Western guidelines provided higher specificity in patients with cirrhosis and in those with chronic hepatitis B.

Objectives: To evaluate characteristic sonographic findings for mumps orchitis with epididymal involvement.Methods: This study included 18 patients (aged 12–18 years) with mumps orchitis. We assessed the volume, echogenicity, and vascularity of the testes and the transverse diameter, echogenicity, and vascularity of the epididymal head, body, and tail. We classified 4 types of epididymal involvement: 1A, focal swelling of the epididymal head with hypervascularity only on the swollen head; 1B, focal swelling of the epididymal head with hypervascularity on the entire epididymis; 1C, diffuse swelling of the entire epididymis with hypervascularity; and 2, no epididymal involvement. The Student t test was used to evaluate the significance of the size of each part of the epididymis and the epididymal head‐to‐tail diameter ratio.Results: Orchitis was unilateral in 13 patients and bilateral in 5. Of 23 affected hemiscrotums, 7 (30.4%) were type 1A, 4 (17.4%) type 1B, 2 (8.7%) type 1C, and 10 (43.5%) type 2. In 11 patients with unilateral epididymal involvement, the mean diameters ± SDs of the epididymal heads on the affected and contralateral sides were 1.11 ± 0.19 (range, 0.7–1.7) and 0.65 ± 0.14 (0.3–0.9) cm (significantly different, P <.001). The diameters of the epididymal tails on the affected and contralateral sides were 0.51 ± 0.41 (0.2–0.8) and 0.46 ± 0.21 (0.3–0.6) cm (not statistically different, P = .106). The mean head‐to‐tail ratios on the affected and contralateral sides were 2.28 ± 0.49 (1.29–3.00) and 1.41 ± 0.22 (1.00–1.75; significantly different, P < .001). In all types 1A and 1B, the ratio was higher than 2.00; in 22 of 23 unaffected epididymides, the ratio was lower than 2.00.Conclusions: Focal swelling of epididymal heads was a characteristic sonographic finding of mumps epididymo‐orchitis, and a head‐to‐tail ratio higher than 2.00 can be a useful diagnostic finding.