Gastric ulcer penetrating the anterior abdominal wall: ultrasound diagnosis.

We report two rare cases of penetration of the anterior abdominal wall by gastric peptic ulcers. The full diagnosis was made by ultrasound, which showed similar findings: sharply delineated, hyperechoic craters clearly traversing the gastric wall and covered by hypoechoic inflammatory components of the abdominal wall. Because ultrasound is increasingly used as a primary procedure for evaluation of abdominal complaints, efforts should be directed toward exploring the accessible portions of the gastric and duodenal walls to detect peptic ulcer disease and its complications.