Intraoperative localization of colorectal tumors in the early stages using a marking clip detector system.

In laparoscopic colectomy the identification of the site of a tumor is often difficult. The topical injection of india ink or blue dye by preoperative colonoscopy is the most prevalent method to mark the tumor site; however, such a procedure also includes the intrinsic danger of possibly injecting dye into the peritoneal cavity. In addition, the injected marker may also spread so widely that the intended site may become obscure. A marking clip detector system was used to detect metallic marking clips in the luminal side that had been applied to the mucosa adjacent to the lesion during the course of preoperative colonoscopy. This method was able to identify the marked site in 40 percent of cases in which only one clip was applied to the mucosa. However, when the lesion sites were marked with two or three clips, then the detection rate increased to 100 percent. Based on our findings, this procedure was found to be a safe and reliable method for identifying lesions during laparoscopic-assisted colectomy.