SONOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF COLON-CARCINOMA SEEN WITH HIGH-FREQUENCY TRANSABDOMINAL ULTRASOUND

To assess the value of high-frequency ultrasonography as a diagnostic imaging procedure in patients with colon carcinoma, we first evaluated the sonograms of 37 patients who had been already diagnosed with cont rast enema and/or colonoscopy as having colon carcinoma. As a result, the sonographic criteria for diagnosis of a possible colon carcinoma w ere (1) a localized and irregular thickening of the colonic wall with heterogenous low echogenicity, (2) an irregular contour, (3) a lack of demonstrable movement or change of configuration of the bowel on real -time scanning, and (4) absence of wall stratification. During the las t 4 years, 41 consecutive patients had findings meeting our sonographi c criteria. In 37 patients (90%), the presence of colon carcinoma was confirmed by contrast enema and/or colonoscopy. Our study suggests tha t high-frequency real-time ultrasonography may be a useful imaging tec hnique in diagnosis of colon carcinoma. (C) 1994 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.