[Reservations in the routine use of preoperative urography in colorectal carcinomas]

The diagnostic utility of preoperative intravenous urography (IVU) carried out in patients with carcinoma of the large bowel is still controversial. In the period between 1978 and 1984 only 8 out of the 347 patients undergoing surgery for carcinoma of the large bowel showed urinary tract involvement at operation. IVU had been carried out in 106 patients before surgery. The survey results agreed with histological reports in 103 case records: 101 true negative, 2 true positive. Two false positive cases and one false negative were also found. Among the eight patients who at surgery revealed urinary tract involvement, only in three IVU had been proposed; in the remaining 5 cases it had not been requested. It may be suggested that the early recognition of colon carcinoma does not allow the neoplasia to further develop in the urinary tract, at least not in as high a percentage as in the past. We therefore deem it necessary to use at first less invasive and faster methods, such as echography, limiting IVU to those cases where a well-grounded clinical suspicion or a previously executed echography suggest deeper investigation.