Endoscopic ultrasonography of superficial esophageal carcinoma: A 20 mhz miniature probe scanning on right lateral decubitus position

A 20MHz ultrasonic miniature probe has been proved to be useful in diagnosing the depth of invasion of superficial esophageal carcinoma. However, as this miniature probe required adequate amount of water in the lumen, the study was limited on conventional left lateral decubitus position. In order to fill up the esophageal lumen with de aerated water, the new method with endoscopic balloon on right lateral decubitus position have been performed in patients who were consisted of forty-five superficial esophageal carcinoma cases. As a result, fine endosonography including entire circumference of the esophageal wall structure was obtained in 44 of 45 patients (97.8%). This facilitated precise diagnosis on depth of carcinomatous invasion. The results suggested that our simple method was found to be useful to obtain total circumferential ultrasound view of esophagus in good quality. This method also enabled us to perform common endoscopic procedures such as chromoscopy or biopsy without changing or pulling up the initial endoscope once inserted to the esophagus.