Ultrasound and ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy of supraclavicular lymph nodes in patients with esophageal carcinoma.

The use of ultrasound combined with ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (UGFAB) of supraclavicular lymph nodes in the pretreatment staging of 37 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus is described. All patients underwent computed tomography (CT) scans of the chest and the abdomen and ultrasound of the abdomen and supraclavicular regions. Supraclavicular lymph node metastases (Stage IV disease according to the tumor nodes metastasis [TNM] classification) were cytologically diagnosed in seven (18.9%) of the 37 patients. In two of these patients, no other metastases were found. In the other five patients, UGFAB replaced more invasive diagnostic procedures. Due to their superficial location, ultrasound and UGFAB of the supraclavicular lymph nodes was relatively simple to perform, and contributed to an improved staging of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.