ABSTRACT
Ultrasound is a relatively quick and simple method of assessing the solid upper abdominal organs, provided there is good acoustic access to allow the sound waves in and out. This is often impaired in patients with a round body habitus when access can be restricted by intervening fat or gas. Ultrasound is usually good at characterisation of cysts and can be highly suggestive of a diagnosis of haemangioma (typically a well-circumscribed, uniformly hyperechoic mass). Metastases and other masses can be detected by ultrasound but with less sensitivity than CT or MRI, and thus CT is usually the preferred screening tool for metastases in patients with known cancer. CT can also assess metastatic disease at sites not accessible to ultrasound (such as bone and lung).
