Endoscopic ultrasonography for staging of T1a and T1b esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

AIM

To investigate the accuracy of Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in staging and sub-staging T1a and T1b esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

METHODS

A retrospective analysis involving 72 patients with pathologically confirmed T1a or T1b ESCC, was undertaken between January 2005 and December 2011 in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center. The accuracy and efficiency of EUS for detecting stages T1a and T1b ESCC were examined.

RESULTS

The overall accuracy of EUS for detecting stage T1a or T1b ESCC was 70.8% (51/72), and the sensitivity was 74.3%. 77.8% (7/9) of lesions originated in the upper thoracic region, 73.1% (38/52) in the mid-thoracic region and 72.7% (8/11) in the lower thoracic region. Multivariate analysis revealed that the diagnostic accuracy of EUS was closely related to lesion length (F = 4.984, P = 0.029).

CONCLUSION

EUS demonstrated median degree of accuracy for distinguishing between stages T1a and T1b ESCC. Therefore, it is necessary to improve EUS for staging early ESCC.