[Transesophageal intraluminal ultrasonography in diagnosis of esophageal benign and malignant tumor].

OBJECTIVE:To study the value of transesophageal echo probe (TEEP) in the management of the esophageal benign and malignant tumor. METHODS:32 patients with esophageal carcinoma and 11 patients with esophageal submucosal tumor underwent surgery. Preoperative examinations included upper gastrointestinal series, endoscopy, and TEEP. Among these patients, preoperative CT scan was also done in 7 patients with esophageal carcinoma and 8 patients with esophageal submucosal tumor. All the resected specimens, including lymph nodes, were examined histopathologically, and the results of preoperative study of TEEP and CT were compared respectively with both the intraoperative macroscopic findings and the pathologic examination of the resected specimens. RESULTS:For T staging of 31 patients with esophageal carcinoma, TEEP was 81% (25/31) accurate versus 43% (3/7) for CT. The accuracy of TEEP for predicting N staging was 77% (34/44). For eleven patients with esophageal liomyoma, the preoperative diagnosis of TEEP was the same as the result of pathology, but the diagnostic accuracy of CT was only 50.0% (4/8). CONCLUSION:TEEP is a reliable method for the preoperative TN-staging of esophageal carcinoma and diagnosis of esophageal liomyoma. Moreover, it is more accurate than CT. In our experience, the procedure was safe and no complication occurred.