Is Endoscopic Ultrasound A Better Choice For Staging Of Gastric Cancers?

Main Category: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 24 Sep 2008 - 12:00 PDT

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Puli et al carried out a search to evaluate the accuracy of EUS in staging gastric cancers, and their results were published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Puli identified 1620 reference articles and 376 relevant articles were selected and reviewed. Twenty-two studies (N=1896) which met the inclusion criteria were included in this analysis. The meta-analysis shows that the pooled sensitivity of EUS for local tumor invasion (T stage) is high and it is higher for advanced disease when compared to early disease. The pooled specificity for depth of tumor invasion is very high for all the T stages. For determining lymph nodes involvement, all the pooled accuracy estimates of EUS are higher for advanced disease compared to early disease.

In the author's opinion, EUS is an accurate and minimally invasive diagnostic tool to evaluate local invasion (T stage) of a patient with gastric cancer. EUS results are more accurate with advanced disease than early disease. Considering that new curative and palliative endoscopic therapies are emerging as an alternative to surgery in gastric cancer, EUS should be strongly considered for staging. Their meta-analysis supports the use of EUS in determining if curative or palliative therapies are the most appropriate approach for a particular stage of the disease. Further studies are needed to improve accuracy of EUS in detecting early invasion of lymph nodes. This research did not have any financial support.

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Reference: Puli SR, Batapati Krishna Reddy J, Bechtold ML, Ibdah JA, Antillon D, Singh S, Olyaee M, Antillon MR. Endoscopic ultrasound: It's accuracy in evaluating mediastinal lymphadenopathy? A meta-analysis and systematic review. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(19): 3028-3037 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/3028.asp

Correspondence to: Mainor R Antillon, MD, Division of Gastroenterology, One Hospital Drive, M580a, Columbia, MO 65212, United states.

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection. It provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the title China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

About The WJG Press

The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Source: Lai-Fu Li
World Journal of Gastroenterology

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