The role of endoscopic ultrasonography in diagnostic and estimation of common bile duct carcinoma invasion]

The main purpose of this survey is to present the importance of EUS in establishing a diagnosis of tumor of the choledochus. It is also important to emphasize that EUS is the most suitable diagnostic method for determination of tumor invasion to choledochus, i.e. to determine TN patient status and to predict if tumor could be successfully resected. The author would like to present his own experience in using of EUS as a contemporary method for establishing a diagnosis and effective treatment of patients with tumor of choledochus. All patients were examined by Olympus equipment for endoscopic ultrasound with radial probe working with the frequency of 7,5 and 12 MHz at the Department for Endoscopic Ultrasound of the Clinic for Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Clinical Center of Serbia. All examined patients were subjected to surgical exploration after that. Therefore it was possible to compare preoperative estimation of tumor invasion with a final result obtained by surgical exploration. Five patients were diagnosed with tumor of choledochus localized at the distal part of choledochus. TN status of examined patients was specified by standard criteria. Estimated TN status for two patients was defined as T2N1a and T2N0, which indicate the possibility of excessive surgical treatment, what was confirmed by surgical exploration as well. A small number of patients was not possible to use for statistical evaluation. Our conclusion is that EUS presents the most effective method to estimate a degree of tumor invasion to choledochus, since it provides an accurate definition of TN patient status and predicts if tumor could be successfully resected.