Clinical value of multidetector computed tomography in detecting lymph node metastasis of early gastric cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) as a pre-operative staging tool for detecting lymph node metastasis in patients with early gastric cancer (EGC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In 77 consecutive patients with EGC, lymph node metastasis was assessed pre-operatively with MDCT at a slice thickness of 2.5 - 5.0 mm (n=24) or 7.5 - 10.0 mm (n =53).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Overall accuracy of detecting NO to N3 lymph node was 74.0% for MDCT and 54.5% for operative assessment. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value in detecting lymph node metastasis was 75. 0%, 65.0%, 30.0% and 92.9% with 2.5 - 5.0 mm MDCT image, which was 62.5%, 82.2%, 38.5% and 92.5% by 7.5 - 10.0 mm MDCT image, whereas it was only 45.5%, 63.6%, 17.2% and 87.2% by operative assessment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Pre-operative assessment by multidetector CT may have a high accuracy in detecting lymph node metastasis for patients with early gastric cancer.</p>