Ultrasonic evaluation of abdominal masses in the pediatric patient.

Ultrasonography was applied to 140 pediatric patients who were diagnosed with histopathological confirmation of masses by either surgical or autopsy methods during the past nine years in the National Children's Hospital and the Hospital of Toho University. The masses were classified into three ultrasonic patterns; solid, cystic, and mixed. A solid pattern was obtained in 47 cases, a cystic pattern in 67, and a mixed pattern in 26. Of the cases of the solid pattern, a benign tumor was seen in 32 per cent, and a malignant tumor in 68 per cent. Each 50 per cent of the cases of the mixed pattern had malignant or benign tumors. All the cases of the cystic pattern had benign tumors. Ultransonics was used as a supplement to routine clinical studies.