[Ultrasonographic findings and integration with computerized tomography in pathology of the abdominal wall]

Ultrasonography (US) plays a major role in the study of the anterior and lateral abdominal wall. Our experience refers to 150 patients examined over a 5-year period, who were divided into two groups according to disease etiology: 72 patients suffered from iatrogenic and 78 from non-iatrogenic conditions. The first group was mainly composed of alterations caused by anticoagulation therapy, e.g., hematomas, and recent or previous surgery, i.e., 19 incisional hernias and 19 inflammatory-abscess processes. The second group included above all 32 cases of abdominal wall hernia, 18 neoplasms, 13 traumas with abdominal wall involvement only and 12 inflammatory processes. US yielded valuable pieces of information to diagnose iatrogenic conditions, even for small or non-relevant conditions. Moreover, US allowed non-iatrogenic conditions to be located and identified, accurately demonstrating abdominal wall layers involvement. US was also very useful in the patients whose physical examination is of no use or difficult, e.g., in the patients with much pain and trauma or obese patients. CT was used in selected cases only, as a complement to US, when a more detailed spatial assessment of wide or deep lesions was necessary.