[Volumetry of abdominal tumors. Problems--feasibility]

If multimodal tumor therapy in the abdomen is to be effective, exact staging is required for which one needs precise planimetric and volumetric data. The most important indication for clinically reliable volumetric determination of tumor size in the abdominal region is monitoring liver metastases during chemotherapy. Determination of volume can be effectively realized using 3D reconstruction. Therefore, the primary data set must be complete and contiguous. The mass should be depicted strongly enhanced and free of artifacts. At present, this prerequisite can only be complied with using thin-slice spiral CT. Phantom studies have proven that a semiautomatic reconstruction algorithm is recommendable. The basic difficulties involved in volumetric determination of tumor size are the problems in differentiating active malignant mass and changes in the surrounding tissue, as well as the lack of histomorphological correlation. Possible indications for volumetry of gastrointestinal masses in the assessment of neoadjuvant therapeutic concepts are under scientific evaluation.