Contrast-enhanced sonography for diagnosis of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Abstract

We describe the contrast-specific sonography features of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, and we hypothesize that this technique would be useful for emergency imaging of patients with suspected aneurysm rupture. We used contrast-specific sonography to assess eight patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Five of these cases were correlated with CT findings. We found that contrast-enhanced sonography can reveal features specific for ruptured aortic aneurysm without causing a significant delay in surgery. This technique may be as effective as CT but may allow a more rapid and noninvasive diagnosis, especially when sonography can be performed bedside.