Laparoscopy in abdominal staging of esophageal carcinoma. Report of 369 cases.

Three hundred sixty-nine patients with cancer of the esophagus (280) and of the cardia (89) underwent laparoscopy, which revealed single or multiple metastases to the liver, peritoneum, omentum, stomach, and lymph nodes in 52 patients (14%) and a metastasis to the gastric wall or to the regional lymph nodes in 36 patients (9.7%). Laparoscopic false negative findings in our series of 250 cases submitted to laparotomy was only 4.4% (2.8% for the liver, 1.2% for the peritoneum, and 0.4% for the omentum). Cirrhosis was diagnosed in 14.3% and severe portal hypertension in 6.7% of our series. Laparoscopy is a very effective procedure in pretherapy staging of esophageal cancer.