Frequency of abnormalities detected by abdominal ultrasound among Japanese adults

Abstract

Abdominal ultrasound examination was given to 715 (566 male and 149 female) adult non‐manual workers in Tokyo as part of their annually required medical check‐up. Gross abnormalities were found in 44.5% of males and 34.2% of females. The most common finding was fatty liver (15.2%), seen four times as frequently in males as in females. There were 93 elevated lesions in the gall‐bladder in 56 subjects (7.8%); some required follow‐up examinations because malignancy could not be excluded. Small cystic lesions were frequently seen in the kidney (6.4%) and in the liver (4.8%). Gallstones were found in 3.4%. Mild splenomegaly occurred in 3.4%. Ten mass lesions, 8 hyperechoic and 2 hypo‐echoic, were found in the liver, but subsequent imaging studies showed them to be benign haemangiomas. Other changes found included calcific lesions in the liver (2.1%) and in the spleen (0.4%), renal stones (2.0%), thickened wall of the gall‐bladder (3.2%), intramural stones (0.8%) and debris/sludge (0.4%) in the gall‐bladder, dilated pancreatic duct (0.7%) and common bile duct (0.3%), liver cirrhosis (0.4%), hydronephrosis (0.1%), enlarged pancreas (0.1%), small pancreas (0.1%), ovarian tumour (0.1%), uterine tumour (0.1%), abnormally shaped kidney (0.1%) and situs inversus (0.1%). It was concluded that abdominal ultrasound is an important examination for a mass screening or a physical check‐up commonly practised as the ‘human dock’ for adults in Japan.

Sonographic findings of anomalous position of the gallbladder

“…In these patients, although the gallbladder lies on the left side of the abdomen, it bears its normal relationship to the liver, and strictly speaking, this anomalous position of the gallbladder is another entity. Situs inversus is not only frequently associated with congenital anomalies but also sometimes complicated by malignant tumors [27]. One of five situs inversus cases in our series had many congenital anomalies, including polysplenia, hypogenesis of the celiac artery, and interruption of the inferior vena cava with continuation of the hemiazygos vein, and another case had a preduodenal portal vein.…”

Increase in the prevalence of fatty liver in Japan over the past 12 years: analysis of clinical background

“…In recent years, several reports based on health checkup data have shown a trend towards an increased prevalence of fatty liver. [1][2][3][4][5][6] It would, however, be difficult to validate epidemiological trends based on these reports alone, because the subjects were limited to nonrandomized groups, the observation periods were of insufficient duration, and the data varied greatly among different medical facilities. It is noteworthy that, in our present study, we conducted annual observations at the same health checkup center over a fixed period of time.…”

Fatty Liver and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis. Where Do We Stand and Where Are We Going?

“…ported as being equally prevalent among men and women [35,36]. In more modern ultrasonographic studies, how-Recent and preliminary data from Italy tend to suggest that obesity is a more relevant etiology of FL than alcohol ever, males are affected more often than females in Japanese adults [30,31] and children [37]. In individuals [34,53,54].…”

“…The around 14-25% both in eastern population studies and in Italian clinical surveys [28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. In Saudi Arabia the pathogenesis of alcoholic steatosis involves a redox shift resulting from ethanol metabolism [50].…”