[Clinical evaluation of the intraluminal ultrasonography]

Although for the diagnosis of rectal diseases barium-enema and colonoscopy have been commonly carried out, by the methods neither information on the layer structure of the intestinal wall nor swelling of the regional lymphnodes can be provided. Therefore we tried intraluminal ultrasonography (IUS) for further evaluation of the rectum and peri-rectal lesion, and the usefulness of IUS in the rectal disease was described. In 46 cases of rectal cancer, the following results were obtained. Five layer structures were distinguished in the normal rectal wall by the IUS. Intraluminal invasion showed destruction of the layer structures of the colonic wall. The swelling of the regional lymphnodes was revealed as low echoic round mass. In 43 cases with benign diseases, characteristic variations of the layer structures in the colonic wall can be distinguished by the IUS. In conclusion, the IUS was of great use to observe the variation of the layer structure of colonic wall and to provide valuable information on metastasis into the regional lymphnodes.