OBJECTIVE: To review the abdominal ultrasound findings in patients with serologically proven dengue fever and to compare the results with data from the literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight patients with serologically proven dengue fever, 25 female and 13 male, mean age of 35 years, were submitted to abdominal ultrasound. The ultrasound findings were compared with data from the literature. RESULTS: The most relevant ultrasound findings were diffuse gallbladder wall thickening in 18 cases (47.4%), abdominal and/or pelvic free fluid in 12 (31.6%), splenomegaly in 11 (28.9%), hepatomegaly in 10 (26.3%) and perivesicular fluid in 10 (26.3%). Twenty-six percent of the patients had normal abdominal ultrasound. CONCLUSION: Abdominal sonography is a useful additional diagnostic tool for the confirmation of suspected cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever and for the evaluation of severity and progression of the disease. The knowledge of the ultrasound possible findings in patients with dengue fever is of extreme importance for the radiologist.

Keywords: Dengue, Ultrasound, Abdominal findings

Although rare, transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract is the second most common tumor of the kidneys. We studied retrospectively the computed tomography images of 10 patients with confirmed transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract. There was involvement of the bladder in 60% of the cases whereas the calyceal system and the ureters were involved in 60% and 10% of the cases, respectively. Concomitant tumors were present in 40% of the cases. The findings were sessile masses, ureteral wall thickening and renal infiltrative lesions. Calcified tumors were seen in two patients and a transitional cell tumor arising from a bladder diverticulum was identified in another patient. Local tumor dissemination was observed in 80% of the patients and distant dissemination in 20% of the patients. Computed tomography allowed the detection of local and distant tumor dissemination, thus allowing a selected group of patients to be treated conservatively.

Keywords: Transitional cell carcinoma, Computed tomography, Renal tumors

Ground-glass opacity is a finding frequently seen in high-resolution computed tomography examinations of the chest and is characterized by hazy increased attenuation of lung, however without blurring of bronchial and vascular margins. Due to its unspecificity, association with other radiological, clinical and pathological findings must be considered for an accurate diagnostic interpretation. In this paper were reviewed 62 computed tomography examinations of patients with diffuse pulmonary diseases of 14 different etiologies in which ground-glass opacity was the only or the most remarkable finding, and correlated this findings with pathology abnormalities seen on specimens obtained from biopsies or necropsies. In pneumocystosis, ground-glass opacities correlated histologically with alveolar occupation by a foaming material containing parasites, in bronchioloalveolar cell carcinoma with thickening of the alveolar septa and occupation of the lumen by mucus and tumoral cells, in paracoccidioidomycosis with thickening of the alveolar septa, areas of fibrosis and alveolar bronchopneumonic exsudate, in sarcoidosis with fibrosis or clustering of granulomas and in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with alveolar septa thickening due to fibrosis. Alveolar occupation by blood was found in cases of leptospirosis, idiopathic hemosiderosis, metastatic kidney tumor and invasive aspergillosis whereas oily vacuoli were seen in lipoid pneumonia, proteinaceus and lipoproteinaceus material in silicoproteinosis and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, and edematous fluid in cardiac failure.

Keywords: Ground-glass opacity, Lungs, High-resolution computed tomography