[Endorectal sonography in rectal carcinoma].

In the period from 1983 to 1985 forty-two of sixty patients with rectal cancer were examined in a prospective trial by endorectal ultrasound. The infiltration depth of the tumor was evaluated against the pathological findings of the excised specimen. The assessment of tumor infiltration depth by digital examination (clinical staging) was impossible or incomplete in 18 cases. Endorectal ultrasound was not correct in 14.2 per cent. In none of the patients examined infiltration depth was underestimated sonographically. Technics and criteria for interpretation are discussed. Endorectal ultrasound seems promising in pretherapeutic staging of rectal cancer.