Endoscopy in patients with malignant conditions of the gastrointestinal tract.

Two hundred and fifteen consecutive upper gastrointestinal endoscopies were performed. It is evident that the patient population in our setting is quite different when compared with that of a general hospital. The incidence of both gastrointestinal hemorrhage and unknown primary malignant tumor is high. In this group of patients, malignant lesions of the stomach were the most common problem encountered. Primary malignant tumors of the stomach account for the diagnoses in approximately 20 per cent of our patients. Fifty per cent of the patients with cancer of the stomach demonstrated invasion of the lower part of the esophagus or esophagogastric junctional area. The accuracy of endoscopic biopsy was correct in 83 per cent of the patients with malignant tumors of the stomach detected by scopic examination. Thirteen per cent false-negative biopsies occurred from infiltrating diffuse lesions. Endoscopy established the diagnosis of carcinoma of the stomach in one-third of the patients with adenocarcinoma of unknown primary source.