The role of intraoperative ultrasound in the assessment of hepatic deposits in intra-abdominal malignancies

Introduction/backgroundThe liver is the most common site of metastatic disease with up to 40-50% of all cancers having the potentiality for sending liver metastasis during the disease. Consequently, there has been increasing value for surgical resection of hepatic deposits of different types of cancers. The need for accurate evaluation of the extent of hepatic metastasis was established for choosing the most suitable patients for surgery and in planning the extent of hepatic resection.AimThe aim of this study was to evaluate the role of intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) in the detection of hepatic deposits in intra-abdominal malignancies with special emphasis on its accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.Patients and methodsThis study was carried out on 30 patients who were admitted to the Gastrointestinal Surgery Unit, Main Alexandria University Hospital, with intra-abdominal malignancies for whom elective open surgical intervention was recommended in the period from 1 September 2017 till the 31 March 2018.ResultsThis study consisted of 17 (56.7%) men and 13 (43.3%) women. Their mean age at admission was 52.77 +/- 9.12 years. Six (20%) of the included patients were found to have hepatic lesions by using IOUS including the four (13.3%) cases already detected by preoperative imaging. Two (6.67%) cases were newly discovered in the operative room by using IOUS.ConclusionThis study has proved that IOUS demonstrates superior lesion detection over the various noninvasive preoperative imaging modalities causing significant impact on change of the planned surgical strategy.