Inclusion of computed tomographic colonography on pre-operative CT for patients with colorectal cancer

To evaluate the impact of the inclusion of computed tomographic colonography (CTC) involving faecal tagging and no laxatives on the computed tomography (CT) study routinely used in staging patients with colorectal cancer.

CTC was performed on 25 patients who had a diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma, with pathological correlation. Researchers recorded the accuracy of the CTC for staging colorectal cancer, as well as any changes to the plans for surgery based on this exam. The patients' tolerance of the preparation required and the quality of the exams was also evaluated.

All exams were well-tolerated, and only one had unsatisfactory quality. CTC identified all the carcinomas and had an overall accuracy of 80%, 60.1% and 100% for the evaluation of tumour depth, lymph nodes and metastases respectively. CTC identified all polyps greater than 9 mm. Following CTC, changes to surgical plans were observed in 20.8% of the cases, all with incomplete optical colonoscopies.

CTC proved useful for the pre-operative evaluation of patients with a diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma, affecting plans for surgery in a expressive number of patients with an incomplete colonoscopy.