Ultrasound examination as a screening method in upper abdominal abnormalities

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Rosario City, Argentina, with a two-stage cluster sampling design. Census blocks were randomly selected and adjacent groups of ten households were randomly selected from within those blocks. A home visit was done to invite the 1700 selected subjects, 20 years onwards, for a free ultrasound check of upper abdomen. All participants (n identical with 1173) were studied using a high resolution ultrasound scanner. A normal diagnosis was done in 726 subjects (men: 65.6%, women: 59.5%). Abnormal findings were: gallbladder disease (men: 15.3%, women: 23.7%), renal cysts (5.0%), fatty liver (4.1%), hemangiomas (2.0%), gallbladder polyps (1.8%), hepatic cysts (1.7%), renal stones (0.3%), and other findings (2.7%). Only one malignant disease, a renal cancer, was found. It was concluded that an upper abdominal screening would be only valid to detect gallbladder disease because prevalence rates of all of the other possible diagnosis are very low.