Rectal endosonography, a new technique for the preoperative staging of rectal carcinoma.

Endosonography of the rectum is a new and exciting technique which is having an increasing impact on the surgical and radiological community and is likely to have two principal applications in patients with rectal cancer. Firstly in the preoperative staging of the disease it has been shown to provide an objective reproducible method of assessment allowing the more accurate planning of treatment whether purely surgical or including some form of adjuvant treatment. Secondly in the follow up of patients who have already had surgery or radiotherapy it may be possible to detect in particular extrarectal local reoccurence at an early and treatable stage. Initial results with this technique are extremely promising but further long term studies are now needed to see whether it will improve overall survival or decrease local recurrence.