Subcutaneous and soft tissue involvement associated with AIDS: ultrasonographic aspects. Apropos of 3 cases

Subcutaneous and soft tissue involvement is frequent in AIDS patients. Although the relevant clinical characteristics have been extensively described in the literature, there has been little work on the radiological features. We therefore report three cases of AIDS with subcutaneous and soft tissue involvement: two cases of pyomyositis and one case of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. All three were black African men and were aged 22, 28 and 41 years. They were diagnosed as suffering from AIDS and were HIV1 and HIV2 positive. Diagnosis was established using needle puncture and histological (lymphoma) and bacteriological (pyomyositis) examination. We report ultrasound scan findings. The features of the pyomyositis differed from those usually observed in immunocompetent patients. The lymphoma nodules were similar to those described in the literature. They were hypoechoic and homogeneous, with no necrotic center. We believe that subcutaneous and soft tissue infectious involvement, for example pyomyositis, is more frequent in tropical regions than tumors (Kaposi's sarcoma, lymphoma) which are more frequent in Europe. This soft tissue involvement can be considered to be part of the particular picture which is "tropical AIDS".