[Echo endoscopy in the local staging of gastric cancer].

Objectives: to evaluate the accuracy of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in the pre-operative T and N staging of gastric cancer.
Patients and Methods: 41 consecutive patients with gastric cancer (35 carcinomas and 6 lymphomas) underwent EUS using an Olympus GF-UM20, with 360 degrees sector scan and interchangeable frequency (7.5-12 MHz). They were classified as T1-T4 and N0-N2, according to the TNM system. These results were then compared with the surgical and pathological staging (SP), by the weighted K statistic (Kw).
Results: In 2 patients EUS staging was not possible due to cardiac stenosis and in other 4 patients, information about SP staging was not available. In the remaining 35 patients the EUS/SP agreement was good (Kw = 0.80) for stage T and moderate (Kw = 0.49) for stage N. Non-agreement was mostly due to EUS understaging, both T and N.
Conclusions: 1) EUS is the most accurate procedure for pre-operative local staging of gastric cancer, and 2) EUS should preferably be performed by endoscopists with sonographic experience and a particular interest in the method.