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Role of Endoscopic Ultrasonography in the Staging and Follow-Up of Esophageal Cancer

Charles J. Lightdale, Ketan G. Kulkarni

From the Columbia University Medical Center New York, NY

Address reprint requests to Charles J. Lightdale, MD, Columbia University Medical Center, 161 Fort Washington Ave, New York, NY 10032; e-mail: CJL18{at}columbia.edu.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in the initial staging and follow-up of esophageal cancer on the basis of a review of the published literature.

METHODS: Articles published from 1985 to 2005 were searched and reviewed using the following keywords: "esophageal cancer staging," "endoscopic ultrasound," and "endoscopic ultrasonography."

RESULTS: For initial anatomic staging, EUS results have consistently shown more than 80% accuracy compared with surgical pathology for depth of tumor invasion (T). Accuracy increased with higher stage, and was >90% for T3 cancer. EUS results have shown accuracy in the range of 75% for initial staging of regional lymph nodes (N). EUS has been invariably more accurate than computed tomography for T and N staging. EUS is limited for staging distant metastases (M), and therefore EUS is usually performed after a body imaging modality such as computed tomography or positron emission tomography. Pathologic staging can be achieved at EUS using fine-needle aspiration (FNA) to obtain cytology from suspect Ns. FNA has had greatest efficacy in confirming celiac axis lymph node metastases with more than 90% accuracy. EUS is inaccurate for staging after radiation and chemotherapy because of inability to distinguish inflammation and fibrosis from residual cancer, but a more than 50% decrease in tumor cross-sectional area or diameter has been found to correlate with treatment response.

CONCLUSION: EUS has a central role in the initial anatomic staging of esophageal cancer because of its high accuracy in determining the extent of locoregional disease. EUS is inaccurate for staging after radiation therapy and chemotherapy, but can be useful in assessing treatment response.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.

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