Ultrasound Examination
Experienced ultrasonographers performed an abdominal ultrasound on the
patients. Unique to S. japonicum infection is parenchymal fibrosis, a
network pattern that is often described as fish scale or tortoise
shell-like. Hepatic fibrosis grading was carried out according to the
standard of practical ultrasound diagnostic guidelines (1996) developed
by the World Health Organization/Tropical Disease Research Organization.
Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence
of liver fibrosis detected by abdominal ultrasound. Mild or non-fibrosis
group: normal and thicker light spot type, normal liver sonogram or only
thick liver parenchyma echo; moderate and severe fibrosis group: focal
echoes in the liver parenchyma are scattered without clear boundary and
echo density bands form a continuous network,fish-scale and cobweb
type.2, 29-32