[Diagnosing the depth of esophageal carcinoma invasion by esophagography scoring].

In patients with an esophageal carcinoma, it was important to determine the depth of the carcinomatous involvement so as to decide on its resectability and prognosis. Thus four measurements of the esophagography findings involving ninety five post-esophagectomy patients were categorized into four grades and scored from point 1 to point 4, depending on the degree of severity, the measurements being the size of the tumor, the circumferential carcinomatous invasion, the degree of stenosis, and the depth of the ulcer. The sum total scores of these four esophagography findings were found to correlate well (P less than 0.01) with the depth of the invasion (submucosa, muscularis propria, adventitia, and the adjacent structures).