Bilious vomiting in a 6-month-old infant.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Lam.
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Pilomatrixomas are relatively common childhood tumors that usually occur in the head and neck region. The clinical diagnosis of these lesions may be difficult, especially if the examining physician is unfamiliar with them. Excision is usually recommended, as a foreign body reaction due to calcification of the lesion may occur and cause a vigorous inflammatory response with risk of scarring. A retrospective study was carried out by examining the preoperative ultrasound scans of 28 suspected pilomatrixomas in 25 children. The findings on sonography were correlated with the histologic results in 19 cases (18 pilomatrixomas and one ruptured epidermoid cyst). In the majority of patients, sonography either correctly supported or excluded the clinical diagnosis of pilomatrixoma and contributed to appropriate preoperative assessment and subsequent management of the lesion. We therefore found sonography of suspected pilomatrixomas in children to be a useful and noninvasive procedure, offering a significant improvement in the accurate diagnosis of these lesions.
Microcystic lymphatic malformations present with a wide variety of clinical manifestations that may make diagnosis difficult. We present four patients with microcystic lymphatic malformations that have been confirmed by both histology and ultrasound appearance. Five further cases of microcystic lymphatic malformations with unusual presentations, in which ultrasound was used to support the diagnoses, are then presented. The use of ultrasound as a tool to aid in the diagnosis of microcystic lymphatic malformations is then discussed and compared with other investigative techniques.