AIM: To compare the accuracy of hydrocolonic sonography (HUS) in determining the depth of invasion (T stage) in colon and rectal cancer.METHODS: A total of 1 000-2 000 mL of saline was instilled per rectum using a system for barium enemas, and then ultrasonography was conducted by a SSA-270A (Toshiba Co, Japan) sonolayer unit with a 3.75 MHz for 17 patients with colon cancer and 13 patients with rectal cancer before operation. After operation, T stage in HUS was compared with postoperative histological findings.RESULTS: Overall, the accuracy of T stage was 70%. It was 88% in colon cancer and 46% in rectal cancer. In evaluating nodal state, the accuracy of HUS was low in both colon (71%) and rectal cancers (46%) compared with conventional CT or MRI. The overall accuracy of N staging was 60%.CONCLUSION: HUS is valuable to evaluate the depth of invasion in colon cancer, but is less valuable in rectal cancer. Because HUS is low-cost, noninvasive, and readily available at any place, this technique seems to be useful to determine the preoperative staging in colon cancer, but not in rectal cancer.
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