Prognostic significance of endoluminal ultrasound-defined disease length and tumor volume (EDTV) for patients with the diagnosis of esophageal cancer.

Background: This study aimed to assess the prognostic significance of endoluminal ultrasound-defined total length of disease and endoluminal ultrasound defined tumor volume (EDTV) in esophageal cancer. The hypothesis was that endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-defined total length of disease and EDTV are both significant prognostic indicators and better predictors of outcome than endoscopic tumor length.

Methods: In this study, 174 consecutive patients (median age, 64 years and 128 months) underwent specialist EUS, and the maximum potential EDTV was calculated (pir(2) L, where r is the tumor thickness and L is the total length of disease) including proximal and distal lymph node metastases.