DUPLEX DOPPLER ULTRASOUND OF HEPATIC SCHISTOSOMIASIS JAPONICA: A STUDY OF 47 PATIENTS

This study describes the ultrasound (US) appearances of the liver with hepatic schistosomiasis japonica (HSJ), and studies the portal hemodynamics in 47 patients with HSJ using duplex Doppler US over a period of 15 years. All patients but two were Chinese war veterans seen in Taiwan about 35-55 years after their presumed infection in Mainland China. The US presentations were reviewed. The data from Doppler portal flow studies were available for 39 patients with HSJ, and compared to data from Doppler portal flow studies in 40 normal healthy volunteers and to this data in 40 patients with postnecrotic cirrhosis. A typical "coarse reticular pattern" due to fibrosis in the whole liver was noted in 40 patients (85%). Other findings included periportal fibrosis (15%), septum-like fibrous bands extending to the liver capsule (32%), and an apparent nodular liver surface (19%). Splenomegaly was noted in seven patients. While coexisting hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) were evident in three patients, and esophageal varices were found in three others, yet both conditions were found only in patients with positive hepatitis-B-surface antigen (HBsAg). Doppler flowmetry of the portal veins in HSJ patients showed a mean flow rate of 15.34 +/- 6.82 cm/sec, and a mean flow volume of 993.21 +/- 290.63 ml/min, both showed no significant difference from those in normal adults (p > 0.5). HSJ can be confidently diagnosed in patients with hepatic fibrosis when the hepatic pathology is presented as a coarse reticular pattern. The portal hemodynamics in HSJ patients who have been isolated from the infection site (for more than 35 years) are significantly different from portal hemodynamics in cirrhotic patients and are similar to those in healthy volunteers.