Importance of dynamic assessment of the soft tissues in the sonographic diagnosis of echogenic superficial abscesses.

Superficial abscesses evaluated by ultrasonography may occasionally be isoechoic relative to the surrounding inflamed tissues and without mass effect, preventing diagnosis by morphologic criteria alone. We present a simple and effective method to detect such abscesses. In three cases, gentle repetitive pressure of the inflamed tissue revealed the liquefied nature of abscesses that otherwise would have been overlooked.