Endosonography for preoperative staging of specific nodal groups associated with esophageal cancer.

The results of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), used preoperatively in 74 endoscopically evaluable patients, were compared with the histopathology after subsequent total esophagectomy with radical lymphadenectomy involving a three-field dissection of the lower cervical, mediastinal, and abdominal nodes. Patients with obstruction to endoscopy were excluded from this study. Overall accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity were 87%, 90%, and 37%, respectively. EUS has an accuracy of more than 80% for detecting metastatic nodes in the cervical paraesophageal, supraclavicular, right recurrent laryngeal, left paratracheal, upper and lower paraesophageal, infraaortic, infracarinal, and lower posterior mediastinal regions. Its sensitivity is highest for cervical and upper thoracic paraesophageal, infracarinal, left paratracheal, and recurrent laryngeal nodes. Accuracy is maximum for periesophageal nodes and varies inversely with the axial distance of the nodes from the esophageal axis. We recommend that EUS be used routinely for preoperative assessment of the cervical and mediastinal nodal status.