Hepatic involvement in hypereosinophilia: Sonographic findings

Hypereosinophilic syndrome may cause eosinophil-related tissue damage to va rious organs. The purpose of this paper is to describe sonographic findings in 13 patients with hypereosinophilia in whom the liver was involved. The diagnosis in these 13 patients was based on liver biopsy in seven patients with bone marrow biopsy in six patients. Eight patients had hypereosinophil ic syndrome and five patients had clonorchiasis. All 13 patients had mild t o marked hepatomegaly. Seven of 13 patients showed multiple round or oval h ypoechoic (n = 6) or variably echogenic (n = 1) lesions measuring 1 to 2 cm with poorly defined margins in both lobes of the liver. Four patients had one or two hypoechoic lesions 3 to 4 cm in size, with geographic pattern an d poorly defined margins. Two patients showed diffuse hepatomegaly with inc reased parenchymal echogenicity. The number of lesions and the extent of di ffuse lesions seem to be proportional to the degree of eosinophilia. Hypere osinophilia may produce multiple small focal hepatic lesions or diffuse seg mental or lobar echogenic lesions simulating primary or metastatic tumor of the liver.