Clinical Application Value of Automated Breast Volume Scanner in the Diagnosis of Abdominal External Hernia.

This study investigated the clinical application value of the automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) in patients with abdominal external hernias. A total of 121 abdominal external hernias from 103 inpatients were examined with both conventional handheld ultrasound (HHUS) and the ABVS before surgery. The rate of detection of abdominal external hernias and the diagnostic accuracy of classifying inguinal hernias using the two modalities were compared between junior and senior sonographers. Additionally, the sonographic appearance of abdominal external hernias with the ABVS system was evaluated. The results revealed that junior sonographers had a higher detection rate with the ABVS (92.6%) than with HHUS (83.5%). For the classification of inguinal hernias, the accuracy of junior sonographers using the ABVS was 89.2%, which was higher than that for the HHUS system (77.6%), but there was no significant difference between HHUS (92.7%) and the ABVS (93.1%) for senior sonographers. Measurement of the hernia orifice size with the ABVS was accurate. In addition, the ABVS could provide coronal images and visually revealed the contents of the hernia, the shape of the hernia orifice and the pathway of herniation, as well as the relationship with adjacent tissues. Therefore, the clinical application value of the ABVS for abdominal external hernias is excellent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]