Topographic distribution of amoebic abscesses studied by liver scanning

Abstract Liver scanning was performed with I 131 -Rose Bengalian in antero-posterior (AP) and right lateral (RL) positions in 106 patients with amoebic abscess of the liver. AP scan demonstrated a great efficiency in the detection of abscesses located at the left lobe, while the RL scan was inefficient. In locating abscesses of the right lobe, the AP scan showed to be 82.8% efficient, while the RL scan and the combination of both demonstrated efficiencies of 92.0% and 98.9%. The accuracy of the AP scan in the detection of lesions of the right lobe decreases in relation to the thickness of the liver tissue interposed between lesion and probe: thus, abscesses situated in the anterior third were localized with an accuracy of 100%, as compared to 93.3% and 75.8% for detection of abscesses located respectively in the intermediate and posterior third of the right lobe. RL scan was more efficient in the detection of lesions located in the posterior (98.2%) and anterior (93.3%) thirds of the right lobe than in those of its intermediate third (73.3%). The combination of AP and RL scans is the best method for the localization of liver abscesses and is the only procedure to explore the posterior aspect of the right hepatic lobe. The distribution of 106 abscesses demonstrated that the most affected regions are the posterior (54.7%), external (51.9%) and upper (34.9%) thirds of the right hepatic lobe.