[Screening for liver metastases of colorectal carcinoma by the routine use of intraoperative echography].

The detection and distribution of liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma is an important problem for the therapeutic approach and prognosis. In this study we evaluated the diagnostic accuracy and technical utility of intraoperative ultrasonography (I.O.U.) in the treatment for liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma. I.O.U. has been routine performed in 70 patients. 13 metastatic lesions have been diagnosed in 10/70 patients with colorectal carcinoma (14.3%). Only 6 of 13 lesions (sensitivity of 46.1%) have been diagnosed preoperatively and/or by surgical exploration. Instead 7 small intrahepatic metastatic lesions (53.9%) have been diagnosed exclusively by I.O.U. It has not been possible to detect this lesions by surgical exploration; the size of these metastatic tumor ranged from 0.4 x 0.6 to 1.2 x 1.6 cm. I.O.U. has been useful for its high sensitivity, for the study of anatomic relation between metastatic lesions and vascular and biliary hepatic structure (good guidance for surgical hepatic resection) and for the possibility of performing deep ultrasound guided biopsies of hepatic lesions.