Endoscopic ultrasonography in the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma, with particular regard to staging it for operability.

We report on the usefulness of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) for the staging of esophageal carcinoma for operability, including the diagnosis of infiltrating depth and lymph node metastases. The accurate diagnosis of the depth of invasion of a carcinoma by means of EUS was achieved in 75% of all cases. Concerning the evaluation of resectability, it should therefore be concluded that EUS can provide us with accurate information on the invasion of the carcinoma beyond the adventitia and/or its distant metastatic growth to the neighboring organs including lymph nodes. From this investigation it can be concluded that EUS is an excellent method for the staging of esophageal carcinoma with regard to its operability.