Computed tomographic staging of gastrointestinal tract malignancies. Part I. Esophagus and stomach.

The utility and limitations of CT staging of carcinomas of the esophagus, stomach, small bowel, and colon are reviewed. Routine preoperative staging of esophageal carcinoma is recommended because of CT's sensitivity of more than 90% in detecting mediastinal invasion and a specificity of more than 85% in collected series. We recommend the use of CT as a problem-solving technique rather than as a routine preoperative test in patients with gastroesophageal junction, and gastric and small bowel malignancies. Routine use of CT to stage colorectal carcinomas also does not seem justifiable, due to the inability of CT to determine the depth of bowel wall involvement and to detect tumor in normal size lymph nodes. CT can help differentiate tumors that invade the pelvic side walls from more limited cancers and, therefore, in certain cases can aid in therapy planning. CT is the best method for detecting local recurrence in patients with rectosigmoid carcinomas.