Elastic plastic tube for detecting exfoliative cancer cells in the esophagus.

A simple device for sampling esophageal lesions is described. The instrument, which is easy and inexpensive to make, consists of a single-lumen plastic tube covered with cotton thread. Once swallowed, the end of the tube can be drawn into a loop. The device has been used at locations with a high incidence of esophageal cancer and at our tumor hospital. A series of 746 cases examined had no complications. The tube has a positive diagnostic rate comparable to that of roentgenography, 96%, and seemed acceptable to both physicians and patients. When an obstruction is present, the instrument can easily pass through it and obtain exfoliated cancer cells, while the conventional method, the balloon cytologic smear, is unable to do so.