[Diagnosis of tumors of the large intestine by colonic ultrasound].

Retrograde instillation of liquid into the colon allows a specific, percutaneous sonographic examination of the colon to be performed. As part of a prospective study of the diagnosis of colonic tumors in 260 patients, this form of colon sonography was examined together with colonoscopy. Sonographically, colonic polyps and carcinomas of the colon manifested as echogenic, parietal masses. Using colonic sonography, it was possible to identify 96% of the carcinomas that had been diagnosed colonoscopically. The sonographic diagnosis of polyps was insufficient if they were smaller than 6 mm: if they were larger than 7 mm, however, diagnostic sensitivity was 91%. The results of this study show that colon sonography is a new, sensitive method in the diagnosis of colonic tumors.