[Intrarectal 3-dimension ultrasonography in preoperative staging of rectal carcinoma]

From Nov. 1991 to Dec. 1992 63 patients were examined by preoperative intrarectal 3-dimension ultrasonography (IR3DUS) for the staging of their rectal carcinoma. IR3DUS assessed the tumor penetration depth with an accuracy of 93.65 percent (P < 0.001, Kappa statistic). IR3DUS predicted lymphatic metastasis with an accuracy of 92.1 percent vs. 63.6% by CT. Correlated with histopathologic findings, the overall accuracy of the preoperative staging utilizing IR3DUS was 93.65 percent (P < 0.001, Kappa statistic). Therefore, IR3DUS is considered a very useful tool for the assessment of the depth of cancer invasion in the rectal wall and perirectal lymph node metastasis.