Hepatic amebic abscess: cholescintigraphic rim enhancement.

Cholescintigrams of 17 amebic liver abscesses (ALAs) in 13 patients were studied retrospectively. Rim enhancement around a photopenic defect was seen in nine (53%) of 17 abscesses. Most of the ALAs were solitary, in the right lobe, and ovoid. All were contiguous with the liver capsule. Ultrasonograms, obtained in 11 of 13 patients, showed the ALAs to be predominantly hypoechoic, with low-level echoes on high-gain settings. No sonographic finding could be identified to correlate with rim enhancement. Cholescintigraphic rim enhancement may allow early diagnosis of ALA in patients with right-upper-quadrant pain, facilitating early institution of specific therapy while definitive serologic confirmation of ALA is awaited.