Table 3 Pathological and clinical laboratory findings in the differential diagnosis of abdominal eosinophilic granulomatous abscesses

Pathologic findings

 Anatomic site involved

  Intestine/colon mass

80% of patients

Rare, ectopic

Not reported

[16, 19, 46, 48, 49]

  Liver abscesses

Localized, 30% of patients

Diffuse more common than localized.

Diffuse with VLM, localized uncommon

[9–11, 13–15, 19, 28, 35, 46]

 Microscopic findings

  Granulomatous inflammation

Present

Present

Present

[12–16, 19, 28]

  Eosinophils

Present

Present

Present

[12–16, 19, 28]

  Charcot-Leyden crystals

Not prominent

Numerous

Present

[12–16, 19, 28]

  Organisms in tissues

Pauci-septate hyphae with Splendore-Hoeppli reaction required for diagnosis

Very rare, if present ova more common than flukes

Larvae 30% of cases

[12–16, 19, 28, 46, 50]

Clinical laboratory findings

 Eosinophilia

76% of patients, usually not very high

Consistently positive in acute stage

Consistently positive with VLM

[12–16, 19, 28, 46, 47, 50]

 Serology

  Before treatment

Immunodiffusion positive 50% of patients, not routinely available.

ELISA 87-93% sensitivity, 98% specificity for acute stage

ELISA 78% sensitivity, 98% specificity for VLM

[16, 19, 33, 47, 50]

  After treatment

Unknown

> 90% negative at 1 year.

Positive for years after VLM

[16, 19, 33, 45–47]