Radiology, Vol 158, 581-587, Copyright © 1986 by Radiological Society of North America
Gastrointestinal tract focal mass lesions: role of CT and barium evaluations
WF Coscina, PH Arger, MS Levine, H Herlinger, S Cohen, BG Coleman and MC Mintz
Fifty-eight patients with focal mass lesions involving the gastrointestinal
tract were studied retrospectively. The diagnostic value of CT scans was
seen by assessing the barium studies alone, then by combined review of
radiographs and CT scans. Patient management decision making was similarly
evaluated. CT scanning aided in diagnosis of the focal masses in 17
patients (29%), changing the differential diagnosis in eight (14%) and
increasing diagnostic confidence significantly in nine (16%). In 21 (36%)
additional cases, the diagnosis did not change, but CT scanning improved
the understanding of disease extent. In the remaining 20 cases (34%), CT
scanning did not help diagnostically. CT scanning altered patient
management decisions in 19 of the 58 patients (33%). CT study was most
helpful in cases of benign extrinsic cystic disease, lymphoma, and
smooth-muscle tumors and less helpful for adenocarcinomas of the bowel. The
value of the CT data increased as one moved from mucosal lesions to
submucosal or extrinsic lesions.
