POSSIBILITIES OF ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN DETERMINING THE STAGE OF UPPER GASTRIC CANCER

Abstract

The article presents the possibilities of sonography in diagnostics of upper gastric cancer. Gastric cancer was diagnosed based on histological examination of biopsy material in 29 patients, including 5 with stage T2, 16 with stage T3, and 8 with stage T4 tumors. Sonography and CT results were compared. Accurate diagnosis of stage T gastric cancer using CT was established in 27 (93.1%) patients, including 4 (13.8%) with stage T2, 15 (51.7%) with stage T3, and 8 (27.6%) with stage T4. Sonography allowed accurate diagnosis of gastric cancer stage in 23 (79.3%) patients, including 3 (10.3%) with stage T2, 14 (48.3%) with stage T3, and 6 (20.7%) with stage T4. No statistically significant differences were found between CT and sonography results. Abdominal esophageal stenosis was detected in 5 patients (17.2%), 6 preventing gastroscopy. In all cases, stenosis was detected by sonography and CT. Sonography's sensitivity for diagnosing upper gastric cancer was 87.5%, specificity 60.0%, and accuracy 82.8%, respectively. Based on this study, it can be concluded that sonography, as an inexpensive, noninvasive method, can be used not only for screening but also for staging upper gastric cancer, which in some cases limits the use of fibrogastroscopy.