Left Groin Abscess

Clinical History

A 35-year old female presented with an onset of painful and tender swelling in the left groin. The patient has a history of intravenous drug injection into the groin. An ultrasound of the groin was requested to examine the swelling for further management.

Case Description

The left groin swelling was initially examined using a curvilinear ultrasound transducer to assess any mass or collection deep within the groin while limiting compromise on the image resolution.

This revealed a 9 cm heterogeneous collection within the left groin (Left Groin Abscess) at the site of concern pointed by the patient.

The collection was seen deep in the intramuscular compartment with a regular outline, some cystic internal component, and air bubbles floating in the dependent areas of the collection, appearing as echogenic rim with some comet tail artefacts at the anterior surface of the collection.

The overall ultrasound features are congruent with an abscess in the deep muscle compartment of the left groin/ upper thigh.  Using a high frequency linear transducer did not provide any tangible information as the collection was too deep to be fully examined by the high frequency transducer.

Therefore, in this case, the curvilinear evaluation of the mass on ultrasound was sufficient.

Diagnosis/ Discussion/ Treatment/ Follow up

The ultrasound findings were congruent with the patient’s overall clinical picture. However, an MRI of the groin was requested for confirmation prior to a consideration of drainage. MRI confirmed a 9 cm collection in the right adductor compartment with air-fluid levels present, some lymphedema, and reactive lymph nodes.

Sonograms