Clinical value of oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in diagnosis of gastric tumors.

Background: The incidence of gastric cancer remains high, and it is the sixth most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is a simple, non-invasive, and painless method for the diagnosis of gastric tumors.

Aim: To explore the diagnostic value of oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography for the detection of gastric tumors.

Methods: The screening results based on oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and electronic gastroscopy were compared with those of the postoperative pathological examination.

Results: Among 42 patients with gastric tumors enrolled in the study, the diagnostic accordance rate was 95.2% for oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography ( = 40) and 90.5% for electronic gastroscopy ( = 38) compared with postoperative pathological examination. The Kappa value of consistency test with pathological findings was 0.812 for oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and 0.718 for electronic gastroscopy, and there was no significant difference between them ( = 0.397). For the TNM staging of gastric tumors, the accuracy rate of oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography was 81.9% for the overall T staging and 50%, 77.8%, 100%, and 100% for T1, T2, T3, and T4 staging, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity were both 100% for stages T3 and T4. The diagnostic accuracy rate of oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography was 93.8%, 80%, 100%, and 100% for stages N0, N1-N3, M0, and M1, respectively.

Conclusion: The accordance rate of qualitative diagnosis by oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is comparable to that of gastroscopy, and it could be used as the preferred method for the early screening of gastric tumors.