Ultrasonography and indium 111 white blood cell scanning for the detection of intraabdominal abscesses.

Ultrasound and indium 111 white blood cell scanning were performed on 163 patients with suspected intraabdominal abscesses. In all but one case, intraabdominal abscesses were correctly identified by one or both tests; conversely, no patient was falsely diagnosed by both tests to have an abscess. Sonography was useful in those patients with focal symptoms, and frequently identified nonabscess causes for fever. White cell scanning was valuable when focal signs were absent, and frequently identified extraabdominal sources of sepsis. The two imaging modalities are complementary and provide a highly accurate and sensitive means of intraabdominal abscess detection.