Diagnostic ability of high-frequency ultrasound probe sonography in staging early gastric cancer, especially for submucosal invasion.

BACKGROUND

Advances in gastrointestinal endoscopy have resulted in endoscopic mucosal resection becoming the main therapy for many early gastric cancers confined to the mucosa and, in some cases, of minimal submucosal invasion. Thus, preoperative determination of the depth of the cancer is important. We compared the results of high-frequency ultrasound probe sonography with those of histologic study to clarify the usefulness of identifying of submucosal invasion and determining the depth of early gastric cancer.

METHODS

Subjects were 295 patients diagnosed with early gastric cancer who had undergone endoscopic mucosal or surgical resection. High-frequency ultrasound probe sonographic findings were compared with histologic findings.

RESULTS

The muscularis mucosae was visualized in 63% of cases of early gastric cancer. By construction on receiver operator characteristics curve, we determined that submucosal invasive cancer could be diagnosed by high-frequency ultrasound probe sonography to a depth of about 600 microm. There was no case in which invasion deeper than 1000 microm was diagnosed as a hypoechoic area limited to the mucosal layer or a fan-shaped hypoechoic area in the submucosal layer. The depth of early gastric cancer was accurately determined in 90% of cases.

CONCLUSIONS

High-frequency ultrasound probe is a useful tool for accurately determining the depth of invasion of early gastric cancer when its limitations are understood.