CLINICAL ROLE OF ENDOSCOPIC ULTRASONOGRAPHY Vs INTRAOPERATIVE FINDINGS IN STAGING ASSESSMENT OF OESOPHAGEAL AND STOMACH TUMOURS.

Endoscopic ultrasonography /EUS/ is a minimally invasive imaging diagnostic method with exceptional accuracy in diagnosing oesophageal and stomach tumour distension. Objective of this retrospective -- prospective study is to determine accuracy of staging assessment and the invasion of oesophagus and stomach tumour with EUS compared to intraoperative findings. Study included patients who had oesophagus and stomach carcinoma verified by routine endoscopy and histopathology findings in the period 2003 -2005 at the Clinic for Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Centre University of Sarajevo, whereas 18 of them had oesophageal carcinoma stage T1-T4 located on superior, medial and inferior third, and 24 patients had stomach carcinoma T0- T3/ stomach corpus and antrum. 15 (74%) patients with oesophageal carcinoma were operable. 3 (24%) patients were excluded from the study because they had stenosis inferior third of oesophagus, and 23 (100%) patients with stomach carcinoma. They were operated by two surgeons. Intraoperative findings of oesophageal carcinoma showed that EUS sensitivity for all stages was 88.8%, while it was 75% sensitive for stomach carcinoma and 80% specific. Results were statistically assessed with X² test. Conclusion Application of EUS in the staging assessment of oesophageal and stomach carcinoma, especially for stage T, represents a gold standard and its use is scientifically grounded for preoperative application of planning further treatment of these two malignancies compared to intraoperative findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]