[Preoperative assessment of depth of infiltration of rectal tumors by staging, endosonography and magnetic resonance tomography. A prospective study]

Abstract

The choice of individual therapy for rectal tumours requires the pretherapeutic assessment of the depth of infiltration of the tumour. Fourty-four patients with rectal tumour were evaluated preoperatively by digital examination, endosonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Test results were compared with the postoperative histological examination. In digitally accessible tumours clinical staging had an accuracy rate of 85%. The sensitivity of endosonography was 83%, compared with 54% for MRI. Our findings suggest that endosonography may be more accurate as MRI, especially for rectal adenomas and early carcinomas.