Clinical and ultrasonographic evaluation of patients with hepatic periportal thickening

ABSTRACT

This work aimed to study different clinical conditions other than schistosomiasis in which HPT may occur. The study included 460 patients with active S. hematobium infection seen consecutively in the Outpatient Clinic and 107 urban patients with pyrexia for more than a week without previous exposure to schistosomiasis and 246 healthy urban controls. US was performed using a portable machine. HPT was graded as followed; 0 [< 3 mm], I [3-5 mm] and II [5-7 mm]. HPT was significantly more in patients with S. hematobium [33.6%] and controls [12%]. It was detected more often in patients with S. hematobium than controls. Among different causes of pyrexia typhoid fever was the most significant cause of HPT. Grade II lesions were present only in 0.2% of patients with S. hematobium. It was concluded that mild grades of HPT could occur in numerous condition other than schistosomiasis as typhoid fever, while advanced grades were not present in either patients with pyrexia or controls. It seems that cellular infiltration in the portal tract gave the US appearance of grade I HPT