Korean J Gastrointest Endosc.  1999 Apr;19(2):200-208.

The Efficacy of Endorectal Ultrasonography in the Preoperative Staging of Rectal Cancer

• Jung HY
• Yang SK
• Kim JC
• Cho MK
• Yu CS
• Kim CN
• Lee HK

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS
The precise preoperative staging of rectal cancer is of great im-portance for the selection of an appropriate treatment. Endorectal ultrasonography (EUS) has been proven as an efficient tool for staging in rectal cancer. Moreover, its technical advancement has been enhancing resolution and applications. We evaluated the accuracy of preoperative staging using EUS in rectal cancer and examined whether staging by EUS was an efficient procedure.
METHODS
EUS was performed in 79 patients with rectal cancer diagnosed by colonoscopic biopsy from January to December, 1996. Endoscopic examina-tion was used with Olympus, GF-UM20 and Br?l and Kjaer type 2001 Scanner. The staging by EUS was based on UICC classification.
RESULTS
Preoperative staging by EUS was equal to pathologic staging in 70.9% (56/79) of cases. Overstaging was found in 17.7% (14/79) and downstaging in 11.4% (9/79). The prediction of lymph node metastases was accurate in 50 of 79 cases (63.3%).
CONCLUSION
EUS seems to be an efficient diagnostic method to assess rectal cancer staging. More accurate imaging and further experience in the interpretation is needed to improve the efficacy of EUS.

Keyword

Endorectal Ultrasound; Preoperative staging; Rectal cancer

MeSH Terms

Biopsy
Classification
Humans
Lymph Nodes
Neoplasm Metastasis
Rectal Neoplasms*
Ultrasonography*