Malignant lesions of the upper gastrointestinal tract

For malignant tumours of the upper gastrointestinal tract, endoscopic ultrasonography is used to assess their depth of penetration, infiltration of neighbouring organs, and metastatic spread to regional lymph nodes. Our experience so far in 124 echo-endoscopic examinations shows that the superior resolution of endoscopic ultrasonography makes possible a very accurate assessment of the depth of penetration of the tumour, and of lymphatic spread to the regional lymph nodes in oesophageal carcinoma. An assessment of infiltrative growth and differentiation from early carcinoma remains problematic.