[Colon endometriosis: radiological diagnosis (author's transl)]

The radiological signs of the three anatomical types of colon endometriosis are described. The marginal type may occur as a simple isolated fixed lesion with well-defined curved edges and a normal mucosa, the mucosal forms being sometimes stretched in the shape of an arc. In some cases this type is associated with perilesional modifications in the folds, the bands of adhesions showing up as saw-tooth spicules or characteristic newly formed folds in the shape of "roman tiles". The circumferential type shows fixed narrowing without proximal dilatation, conservation of the mucosa, and sometimes a "wheel rim" appearance from retraction of the mesocolon. The third type are the diffuse pelvic forms, when there is a primary colon lesion and signs of pelvic spread have to be investigated by coelioscopy. Diffuse pelvic forms with secondary spread into the colon raise the diagnostic problem of the "extrinsic colon".