[Changes in the vena cava in kidney tumors: sonography or cavography?]

In seven out of 45 cases with malignant growths in kidneys and adrenal glands, sonography presented tumor-induced changes in the vena cava. The accuracy of this technique in detecting changes in the vena cava corresponds to that of cavography. Thus, it is no longer necessary to use cavography--except as a supplementary method mainly in cases where with sonography it is difficult to differentiate between an incomplete and a complete occlusion of the vena cava or between a cone-shaped invasion of the neoplastic thrombus into the inferior vena cava and an infiltration of the tumor into the wall of the vena cava.