Transabdominal ultrasound diagnostics of intestinal tumor diseases in adults

Abstract

Oncological diseases account for the largest share of all diseases of the colon, making up to 45% of all intestinal diseases. The colorectal cancer incidence is increasing every year in almost all countries, including Ukraine. Usually the endoscopic methods of examination and X-ray diagnostics play a key role in colon pathology diagnostics. Transabdominal ultrasound examination was considered a poor method to diagnose a cancer of hollow organs due to the presence of gas in the intestine. The potential possibilities of this method in assessment of the intestinal diseases as well as in studying the prevalence of pathological changes beyond the intestinal wall were underestimated. However, the development of ultrasound devices with high resolution determines the increasing use of transabdominal ultrasound examination to diagnose diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The article is based on literature review as well as on authors’ own observations of ultrasound examination of benign and malignant diseases of the large intestine. The article goes on to analyze possibilities of transabdominal ultrasound diagnostics of pathological changes in the intestine. The results show that widespread use of ultrasound equipment, increasing the resolution of sensors can significantly complement the existing methods of colorectal cancer diagnostics. The use of transabdominal ultrasound examination in cases of colorectal cancer will allow to detect a colon cancer in the preclinical and mildly symptomatic stage, while excluding the influence of ionizing radiation.