Clinicopathologic factors influencing the accuracy of EUS for superficial esophageal carcinoma.

Aim: To identify clinicopathologic factors influencing the accuracy of a high-frequency catheter probe endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) for superficial esophageal carcinomas (SECs).

Methods: A total of 126 patients with endoscopically suspected SEC, who underwent EUS and curative treatment at Pusan National University Hospital during 2005-2013, were enrolled. We reviewed the medical records of the 126 patients and compared EUS findings with histopathologic results according to clinicopathologic factors.

Results: A total of 114 lesions in 113 patients were included in the final analysis. The EUS assessment of tumor invasion depth was accurate in 78.9% (90/114) patients. Accuracy did not differ according to histologic type, tumor differentiation, tumor location, or macroscopic shape. However, accuracy significantly decreased for tumors ≥ 3 cm in size (P = 0.002). Overestimation and underestimation of the invasion depth occurred for 11 (9.6%) and 13 lesions (11.4%), respectively. In multivariate analyses, tumor size ≥ 3 cm was the only factor significantly associated with EUS accuracy (P = 0.031), and was specifically associated with the underestimation of invasion depth.

Conclusion: EUS using a high-frequency catheter probe generally provides highly accurate assessments of SEC invasion depth, but its accuracy decreases for tumors ≥ 3 cm.