Background: The ideal method for staging tumours of the oesophagus and gastric cardia is not known. This paper was designed to assess the value of laparoscopy and laparoscopic ultrasonography in the staging of oesophageal and cardial carcinoma.
Methods: From October 1993 to January 1996, 60 patients in whom no metastases were seen on gastroscopy, ultrasonography of the abdomen and supraclavicular region, helical computed tomography of the chest and abdomen or endosonography were scheduled for laparoscopy and laparoscopic ultrasonography.
Results: Some 40 patients had carcinoma of the oesophagus, in one of whom liver metastases were found at laparoscopy and proven histologically. On laparoscopic ultrasonography metastases were found in four patients but were impossible to biopsy. These lymph node metastases were confirmed at exploratory laparotomy. Twenty patients had carcinoma of the gastric cardia; distant metastases were found in four at laparoscopy. On laparoscopic ultrasonography metastases were present in four further patients, all proven by biopsy.
Conclusion: In this study laparoscopy was not an effective staging technique for oesophageal carcinoma. The inclusion of laparoscopic ultrasonography was of little benefit. A problem that was encountered was biopsy under laparoscopic guidance. In carcinoma of the gastric cardia, laparoscopy was more effective; adding laparoscopic ultrasonography doubled the number of patients seen to have metastatic disease.