title: Endoscopic ultrasonography in the preoperative staging of colorectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Endoscopic ultrasonography presents a significant progress in imaging methods for the examination of the digestive system and is commonly used in cancer staging. The aim of this study was to quantify the potential of this modality for diagnosis and staging of colorectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty patients with histologically proven colorectal cancer were included in this study. All patients were preoperatively diagnosed by colonoscopy and biopsies, abdominal computed tomography and endoscopic ultrasonography. The latter was also used to evaluate the depth of tumor invasion and presence of lymph node or distant metastasis prior to surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Endoscopic ultrasonography presented 100% sensitivity in cancer detection versus 60% for computed tomography (P < 0.001). Endoscopic Ultrasonography sensitivity in T, N, M and TNM staging was 93.8%, 93.8%, 92.5% and 82.5% with corresponding specificities of 99.2%, 97.9%, 92.5% and 94.2%. Overall, Endoscopic Ultrasonography staging of the patients did not present statistically significant differences with histological staging (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Endoscopic ultrasonography is of satisfactory accuracy in diagnosis and preoperative staging of colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, N.I.M.T.S. Hospital, Athens, Greece. n.kalantzis@eudoramail.com
authors.forename: Ch
authors.initials: Ch
authors.lastname: Kalantzis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Markoglou
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Papagiannis
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tarazis
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bramis
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bastounis
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kalantzis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D019160:Endosonography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity