[Causes of errors in x-ray diagnosis of diseases of the digestive tract]

Eighty three cases of an erroneous x-ray diagnosis of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract were analyzed and compared with operative findings (3269) operations. In 75 observations a divergency in diagnoses was related with pathological conditions of the stomach and pancreatoduodenal zone. The greatest number of erroneous diagnoses is due to an improper interpretation of roentgenological symptoms and underestimation of functional signs of the lesion. Errors in the method of roentgenological studies resulted in a wrong diagnosis. There were 8 cases of incorrect diagnosis in tumors of the small and large bowel, 5--in diseases of the operated stomach and 2--in nonepithelial gastric tumors, these were mostly due to objective difficulties of the differential diagnosis and limitations of the roentgenological method of investigation.