Endoscopic diagnosis of submucosal gastric lesions. The results after routine endoscopy.

The accurate diagnosis of submucosal gastric lesions is difficult. In an attempt to study this problem, the endoscopic records for 8 consecutive years (July 1976-June 1984) were scanned with the help of a computer-based registration of the endoscopic findings. The examinations were identified in which the endoscopic diagnosis indicated the presence of a submucosal tumor. Fifty-four such patients were found in 15,104 routine examinations, giving an incidence of 0.36%. Six patients were lost to follow-up, so the study is based on 48 patients. The most common reason these patients underwent endoscopy was abdominal pain. Five patient groups were identified: (a) nine patients were correctly diagnosed as having gastric wall neoplasia at the initial endoscopy + biopsy; (b) in an additional 13 patients, the suspected gastric wall neoplasia was verified by further nonoperative diagnostic procedures; (c) five patients were found to have benign non-neoplastic gastric disease; (d) five patients had extra-gastric disease that pressed against the gastric wall; (e) in 14 patients a further work-up indicated that the initial endoscopy was false-positive. These five groups were confirmed by additional diagnostic procedures (including laparotomy) and a follow-up time of more than 5 years or autopsy. Two patients refused further examinations and died shortly afterward. No autopsies were performed. Based on our data, it would seem that in the vast majority of patients the suspicion of a submucosal gastric lesion at endoscopy indicates the presence of a serious condition.