[What is the value of endosonography in the preoperative staging of esophageal carcinoma?].

The value of endosonography (ES) for diagnosing the stage of oesophageal carcinoma was analysed in 180 patients with this form of cancer (161 men and 19 women; mean age 57 [41-73] years). The tumour stenosis could not be passed in 54 patients (30%). Primary resection of the tumour was possible in 97 patients (53.9%). It is in these latter cases that the results of endosonography and histological findings in the resected specimen were compared. The sensitivity of ES for the depth of infiltration of the primary tumour was 85%, while for involvement of regional lymph nodes it was 75%. In those cases in which ES could be applied only at the tumour stenosis but not beyond, the staging sensitivity was 72%. According to the ES findings, R0-resection should have been possible in 87 of 97 patients (89.7%), but on the basis of the histological findings in only 65 patients (67%). Nonetheless, ES is at present the most accurate method of judging resectability and thus of formulating a multimodal preoperative treatment concept.