title: Inclusion of computed tomographic colonography on pre-operative CT for patients with colorectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of the inclusion of computed tomographic colonography (CTC) involving faecal tagging and no laxatives on the computed tomography (CT) study routinely used in staging patients with colorectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  CTC was performed on 25 patients who had a diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma, with pathological correlation. Researchers recorded the accuracy of the CTC for staging colorectal cancer, as well as any changes to the plans for surgery based on this exam. The patients' tolerance of the preparation required and the quality of the exams was also evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All exams were well-tolerated, and only one had unsatisfactory quality. CTC identified all the carcinomas and had an overall accuracy of 80%, 60.1% and 100% for the evaluation of tumour depth, lymph nodes and metastases respectively. CTC identified all polyps greater than 9 mm. Following CTC, changes to surgical plans were observed in 20.8% of the cases, all with incomplete optical colonoscopies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CTC proved useful for the pre-operative evaluation of patients with a diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma, affecting plans for surgery in a expressive number of patients with an incomplete colonoscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital A.C. Camargo, Fundação Antônio Prudente, R. Professor Antônio Prudente, 211, CEP: 01509-010, São Paulo, Brazil. acfonte@ig.com.br
authors.forename: Alexandre Calabria
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: da Fonte
authors.forename: Rubens
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chojniak
authors.forename: Fábio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de Oliveira Ferreira
authors.forename: Paula Nicole Vieira
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Pedro José
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: dos Santos Neto
authors.forename: Almir Galvão Vieira
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Bitencourt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D023881:Colonography, Computed Tomographic / Q000379:methods*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007482:Iothalamate Meglumine; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014283:Triiodobenzoic Acids
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D014283:Triiodobenzoic Acids; C054871:ioversol; D007482:Iothalamate Meglumine