[Endosonographic staging of rectal tumors]

Pre-operative staging was performed in 81 patients with rectal tumours by means of endorectal sonography. In 87% of cases (70 out of 81), the endosonographic findings corresponded with the histopathological appearance; the recognition of T0 and 1 tumours, which is important in deciding surgical procedures, was possible in 94% (51 out of 54). Differentiation between T0 and T1 tumours (i.e. between adenomas and carcinomas infiltrating the submucosa) was not possible. Five out of ten of T2 and 14 out of 16 T3 tumours were staged correctly. One T4 tumour was placed in too low a stage. A comparison of the echo structure of adenomas and carcinomas in 76 patients showed that 28 out of 43 adenomas (65%) have homogeneous echoes, while 24 out of 33 carcinomas (73%) showed inhomogeneous low intensity echoes.