[Ultrasonic tomography in the diagnosis of recurrences of rectal cancer]. / Ultraschalltomographie in der Diagnostik von Rektumkarzinomrezidiven.

The results of ultrasonography in 616 patients after radical surgery of rectal carcinoma are committed. In the first group, patients with clinical symptoms of a recidive, the method detected a tumour in 146 (80.2%) of 182 patients. The error rate was 12.1%. In the second group, patients with unfavourable postoperative prognosis, ultrasound follow-up detected recidives previous to their clinical manifestation in 73 (16.8%) of 434 patients. The method turned out to be effective even for the detection of small (less than 3 cm) recurrences after rectal exstirpation. For intraintestinal recurrences after rectal resection ultrasonography can determine the degree of infiltration outside the organ. Real-time scans can prevent some of the errors that occur with compound scans.