ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the role of real-time ultrasound elastography (RUE) in the staging of rectal cancer.Methods We retrospectively analyzed 41 cases of rectal cancer by both double plane transrectal conventional ultrasonography (CU) and RUE and comparatively assessed elasticity scores and strain ratios (SR) of the tumor along with postoperative pathological staging results.Results The accuracy of CU for preoperative staging of rectal tumors was 80.49％.There were significant differences between the elasticity scores and strain ratios of the T1 stage and T2,T3,and T4 stages,and also in elasticity scores and strain ratios of the T4 stage and T2 and T3 stages of rectal cancer by using RUE (P ＜ 0.05).Taking the elasticity score of 3 points as the optimal ritical value in the diagnosis of the T1 stage of rectal cancer,the sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,and negative predictive value were 66.67％,96.88％,85.71％,and 91.18％ respectively.Condusion Endorectal RUE can assess the elastic stiffness of rectal cancer,and it helps in the preoperative staging of rectal cancer.