[Role of echography in the study of retroperitoneal tumors]

Fourteen patients affected by primitive retroperitoneal tumors were examined by means of sonography in order to assess the value of this technique in this type of pathology. Ten patients underwent fine needle biopsy, 5 barium meal examination, 2 intravenous pyelography. In 8 patients CT was also performed. Surgical removal or explorative laparotomy followed by histological examination was performed in all patients. Sonography proved reliable in identifying and in assessing the type of the lesion (if associated with fine needle biopsy which was performed in 10 out of 14 patients). Sonography proved little less satisfactory in determining the site and the local extension of the lesion since the huge dimensions of the tumor did not always allow to use those semeiologic signs described in the literature. All tumors examined presented, in fact, as large masses, this fact indicating the scanty progress sonography has taken in the field of the early diagnosis. Since the huge dimensions of these tumors do not always allow a complete surgical removal, and because of their proven tendency of relapsing, the prognosis of these tumors seems to persist unfavourable notwithstanding the widespread use of sonography.