Endoscopic ultrasonography in gastric cancer: from diagnosis to therapy / 国际肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Endoscopic ultrasound was initially introduced in 1980s as a diagnostic modality combining echoendoscopes with radial scanning, which permitted reconstruction of cross-sectional images similar to computed tomography. Many studies showed that endogastric ultrasonography is more accurate than endoscopy or CT in evaluating the depth of invasion ( T category) and the involvement of lymph nodes (N category) in patients with gastric carcinoma. In addition to being very useful in tissue acquisition for diagnostic purposes, the principles behind endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration ( FNA) paved the way for the development of therapeutic endoscopic ultrasound, which improve the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.