AUTHOR=Wang Liang , Liu Zhe , Kou Hongju , He Huiliao , Zheng Bo , Zhou Lingling , Yang Yan 

TITLE=Double Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography in Preoperative T Staging of Gastric Cancer: A Comparison With Endoscopic Ultrasonography

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2019.00066

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2019.00066

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> To compare the precision of double contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (DCEUS) to endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in preoperative T staging of gastric cancers.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> This retrospective study consisted of 158 pathologically confirmed gastric cancer patients. All patients underwent DCEUS (intravenous contrast-enhanced ultrasonography combined with oral contrast-enhanced ultrasonography) and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) preoperatively. The histopathological findings of resected specimens were compared with the results of DCEUS and EUS retrospectively.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The accuracy of DCEUS and EUS in evaluating the T staging of gastric cancer were 82.3% (T1 62.5%,T2 84.4%,T3 87.9%,T4 91.3%) and 76.6% (T1 84.4%,T2 82.2%,T3 72.4%,T4 65.2%), respectively. There were no significant differences between the methods for the overall T staging accuracy (χ<sup>2</sup> = 1.569, <italic>P</italic> = 0.210). But EUS was superior to DCEUS for T1 stage (χ<sup>2</sup> = 3.925, <italic>P</italic> = 0.048) and DCEUS was superior to EUS for T3 stage (χ<sup>2</sup> = 4.393, <italic>P</italic> = 0.036) and T4 stage (χ<sup>2</sup> = 4.600, <italic>P</italic> = 0.032).</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> DCEUS is a convenient and noninvasive method with high precision, which can be used as the primary imaging technique for advanced gastric cancer T staging. In early gastric cancer, we should prefer EUS. Two methods are complementary for assessing tumor invasion depth of gastric cancer.</p>