Hydrocolonic sonography: a complete colorectal evaluation technique with preliminary results.

Background: Hydrocolonic ultrasound (HUS) is a low-cost imaging modality as compared with standard colonoscopy. However, HUS is not popular in the clinical setting due to its somewhat complicated technique of examination and inability to visualize the rectum. We developed a technique to overcome these limitations.

Methods: Ten patients with cancer-suggestive symptoms and 70 asymptomatic patients were included in this study. All patients underwent HUS, with the technique described herein, before colonoscopy on the same day. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were calculated.

Results: There were 30 men and 50 women with a mean age of 60.9 ± 7.3 (SD) years. Thirteen polyps with a size ≥0.6 cm (four lesions size 0.6 to 0.9 cm and nine lesions size ≥1 cm) were detected by colonoscopy. The detection rate of lesions by HUS was 25% for polyps size 0.6-0.9 cm and 89% for lesions size ≥1 cm in size. Three lesions were missed in the sigmoid colon, one in the transverse colon, and one in the rectum.

Conclusions: HUS is a low-cost and noninvasive procedure for colorectal study. This technique has the potential to be used for the detection of colorectal cancer and polyps.