Role of endosonography in the evaluation of gastric malignancies.

The aims of this study were to stage gastric malignancies and differentiate between carcinomas and lymphomas. Twenty-two patients were evaluated with endosonography. Tumoral infiltration depth (T stage) and presence of metastatic lymph nodes (N stage) were investigated. Five percent of the cases were staged as T2, 36% as T3, and 59% as T4. According to the endosonographic examination, 14% were NO, 68% were N1, and 18% were N2 malignancies. When compared with results of surgery and histopathologic examination, the accuracy was 82% for both T and N stages. It can be concluded that endosonography is a valuable imaging modality for the local staging of gastric malignancies. Early stage lymphomas can be differentiated from carcinomas, but in advanced stages both have similar appearance.