THE UTILITY OF PRETREATMENT BARIUM ENEMA IN WOMEN WITH ENDOMETRIAL CARCINOMA

Objective. The objective of this study was to assess the clinical util ity of a pretreatment barium enema in women with endometrial cancer. M ethods. The medical records of 249 patients with endometrial cancer wh o underwent a pretreatment barium enema were retrospectively reviewed. The patients' charts were abstracted for demographic Information, sta ge, grade, histology, current disease status, and barium enema results . Results. The pretreatment barium enema was normal in 122 (49%) patie nts. Diverticulosis was the most common abnormality, reported in 112 ( 45%) patients. Apparent intraluminal abnormalities were found in 15 (6 .0%) patients. Each of these patients underwent colonoscopy prior to t reatment for endometrial carcinoma. During colonoscopy, benign colonic polyps were removed from II (4.4%) patients. Primary colonic adenocar cinoma was discovered in polypoid lesions removed from 2 (0.8%) patien ts. Significant luminal narrowing from extrinsic lesions was noted in 2 (0.8%) patients, one at the rectosigmoid and the other at the cecum. No patient was found to have colonic mucosal involvement by endometri al cancer. Conclusion. The results of this study do not justify routin e pretreatment barium enema to assess the colonic mucosa for metastati c involvement by endometrial cancer or as a screening tool for colorec tal cancer in women with endometrial cancer. (C) 1997 Academic Press.