With recent technical advances, increasing use of sonography in the initial evaluation of patients with abdominal disease may allow the detection of unexpected tumor within the abdominal cavity. Easiness of sonographic detection of bowel pathology, purposely or unexpectedly, warrants the inclusion of bowel loops during ultrasound examination when a patient complains of symptoms indicating diseases of the bowel. In patients complaining of acute abdominal symptoms or nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms and showing signs such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, hematochezia, change of bowel habit, or bowel obstruction, sonography may reveal the primary causes and may play a definitive role in making a diagnosis. On ultrasonography, abnormal lesions may appear as fungating mass with eccentrically located bowel lumen (pseudokidney sign) or symmetrical or asymmetrical, encircling thickening of the colonic wall (target sign). In patients with mass or wall thickening detected on ultrasonography, additional work-up such as barium study, CT or endoscopy would be occasionally necessary for making a specific diagnosis.
Abdomen, Acute/ultrasonography ; Aged ; Appendicitis/ultrasonography ; Colorectal Neoplasms/ultrasonography ; Diverticulitis/ultrasonography ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Diseases/ultrasonography+ACo- ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms/ultrasonography ; Human ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/ultrasonography ; Intestinal Obstruction/ultrasonography ; Intestinal Perforation/ultrasonography ; Intestines/ultrasonography ; Male ; Stomach/ultrasonography ; Ultrasonography/instrumentation

Gastric lymphangioma is a rare benign gastric tumor composed of unilocular or multilocular lymphatic spaces. On gastrofiberscopy a submucosal tumor covered with smooth transparent normal mucosa is revealed in the stomach with or without a stalk. Endoscopic ultrasonography has become an indispensable tool for differentiating these gastric tumors. Treatment of lymphangioma depends on its size, location, and presence of complications. Endoscopic resection is safe and easy and plays an important role in confirming the diagnosis and treatment of the tumors especially of small-sized ones. We report a case of gastric lymphangioma in a 68-yr-old woman who presented with nausea and vague epigastric discomfort for two months. She was diagnosed by gastrofiberscopy with endoscopic ultrasonography and treated successfully with endoscopic resection by strip biopsy method.
Aged ; Biopsy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Endosonography ; Female ; Human ; Lymphangioma/*pathology/surgery/ultrasonography ; Stomach Neoplasms/*pathology/surgery/ultrasonography

Incidental gastrointestinal subepithelial mass is increasing with national cancer screening endoscopy. Most of gastrointestinal subepithelial mass are small-sized and asymptomatic tumor with benign nature, but gastrointestinal stromal tumor should be ruled-out because of its malignant behavior. Although conventional endoscopy alone can differentiate the nature of subepithelial mass, more accurate diagnosis can be achieved with endoscopic ultrasonography and its guided biopsy. In this review, differential diagnosis and treatment strategy of incidental gastrointestinal subepithelial mass would be presented.
Diagnosis, Differential ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors/*diagnosis/pathology/ultrasonography ; Humans ; Intestinal Neoplasms/diagnosis/pathology/ultrasonography ; Stomach Neoplasms/diagnosis/pathology/ultrasonography ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is a valuable imaging modality for the evaluation of gastrointestinal submucosal tumor (SMT). EUS is helpful in assessing the layer of origin, tumor diameter, shape, border characteristics, and internal echo patterns of SMTs and thus makes it possible to predict histologic diagnosis with educated guess. However, some studies have found no significant differences in EUS features between benign and malignant mesenchymal tumors. By comparing EUS impressions with histologic diagnosis, we evaluated the accuracy of EUS in differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal SMTs. METHODS: 58 cases of gastrointestinal SMTs with both EUS findings and pathologic reports were compared retrospectively from August 2001 to September 2003. RESULTS: 34 patients had lesions in the stomach and 13, 8, 3 in the esophagus, duodenum, and colon respectively. Benign lesions were predominant (46 of 58). The EUS and pathologic diagnosis coincided in 46/58 (79.3%) of the cases. Use of EUS led to the correct diagnosis in 7/9 (77.8%) of malignant GISTs (gastrointestinal stromal tumor) and leiomyosarcomas. Two small malignant gastric GISTs were diagnosed as benign with EUS. CONCLUSIONS: EUS is a useful tool in the differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal SMTs and predicting malignant lesions. However, some malignant GISTs were diagnosed as benign tumor with EUS examination.
Adult ; Aged ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; *Endosonography ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms/pathology/*ultrasonography ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors/pathology/ultrasonography ; Humans ; Leiomyosarcoma/pathology/ultrasonography ; Male ; Middle Aged

Pancreatic tumor is one of the most difficult diseases to diagnose and treat because of its anatomical location and characteristics. Recently, there have been several innovative trials on the treatment of pancreatic tumors using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) because it allows selective access to the difficult to reach target organ along the gastrointestinal tract and can differentiate vessels by color Doppler. Among these trials, several have investigated EUS-guided ethanol lavage with or without paclitaxel for pancreatic cystic tumors. These studies show a 33% to 79% complete resolution rate with a favorable safety profile. Compared to EUS-guided ethanol lavage for pancreatic cystic tumors, EUS-guided radiofrequency ablation is considered a less invasive treatment method for pancreatic cancer. Although there are still several difficulties and concerns about complications, one clinical study reported 72.8% feasibility with favorable safety, and therefore, we anticipate the results of ongoing studies with these new less invasive techniques.
Catheter Ablation ; Endosonography ; Ethanol ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Paclitaxel ; Pancreatic Cyst* ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Therapeutic Irrigation ; Ultrasonography

Tumors of the major duodenal papilla, also known as ampullary tumor, are rare with an approximate 5% incidence of all gastrointestinal neoplasm. These tumors seem to be detected more frequently with increasing performance of upper endoscopic examination and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Adenoma, most common benign disease of ampullary tumor, is very important because of its potential to undergo malignant transformation to ampullary cancer. Especially, endoscopic ultrasound or transpapillary intraductal ultrasonography can provide more detailed and accurate information on the extent of ampullary tumors and proper treatment should be done after diagnosis. Considering perioperative morbidity and mortality of surgical resection, endoscopic papillectomy is regarded as a curative treatment of ampullary adenoma. However, the indication of the procedure is very strict and there are various complications related to the procedure. Therefore, it is important to understand the role of endoscopy in diagnosis and treatment of ampullary tumor. In this review, the diagnostic role of endoscopy for ampullary tumor and the treatment method of endoscopic papillectomy will be discussed.
Adenoma ; Ampulla of Vater ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Diagnosis* ; Endoscopy* ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Ultrasonography

A growing number of studies have explored endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided vascular catheterization. Potential clinical applications of EUS-guided portal venous access include angiography, measurement of the portosystemic pressure gradient, EUS-guided transhepatic intrahepatic portosystemic shunt creation and portal vein sampling for the evaluation in gastrointestinal cancer. The following article reviews the different devices and techniques employed in these applications.
Angiography ; Endosonography ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; Portal Pressure* ; Portal Vein ; Portasystemic Shunt, Surgical ; Ultrasonography ; Vascular Access Devices

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Subepithelial tumors are occasionally found during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate endoscopic characteristics of mesenchymal tumors originating from muscularis mucosa or muscularis propria. METHODS: A total of 307 mesenchymal tumors of the upper gastrointestinal tract were diagnosed between March 2006 and February 2012 at Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital (Seoul, Korea). Data on endoscopic and endoscopic ultrasonographic findings were collected and analyzed by retrospectively reviewing the medical records. RESULTS: The mean size of the mesenchymal tumors originating from muscularis mucosa was significantly smaller than those originating from muscularis propria (10.5+/-6.9 mm vs. 14.3+/-13.9 mm, p=0.035). The most common locations of the mesenchymal tumors originating from muscularis mucosa and muscularis propria were esophagus (69.1%) and body of the stomach (43.3%), respectively (p<0.001). Rolling sign was more commonly observed with mesenchymal tumors originating from muscularis mucosa (80.4%, p=0.001), and cushion sign was more frequently absent with those originating from muscularis propria (72.4%, p<0.001). Internal echo was homogenous in 89.7% and 81.9% of mesenchymal tumors originating from muscularis mucosa and muscularis propria, respectively (p=0.092). CONCLUSIONS: The size, location, and movability of mesenchymal tumors originating from muscularis mucosa were different from those of mesenchymal tumor originating from muscularis propria.propria.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Esophagus/pathology/ultrasonography ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology/ultrasonography ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors/*diagnosis/pathology/ultrasonography ; Gastroscopy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mucous Membrane/pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach/pathology/ultrasonography

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Dyspepsia is very common in the community. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of various causes of dyspepsia. METHODS: Two hundreds nine patient with dyspepsia were investigated. Basic laboratory screening, ECG, Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy or upper gastrointestinal barium study, upper abdominal ultrasound were performed in every dyspeptic patients. RESULTS: Functional dyspepsia was the cause of symptoms in 92.3%, peptic ulcer in 2.9% (duodenal ulcer in five patients, gastric ulcer in one patient), reflux esophagitis in 0.5%, esophageal ulcer in 0.5%. Of dyspeptic patients, gallstone was found in 1.4%, gastric submucosal tumor in 1.0%, fatty liver in 1.9% (two of four patients with fatty liver had elevated transaminase), upper gastrointestinal cancer in 0%. Of functional dyspepsia patients, women was 60.3%, men was 39.7%. CONCLUSIONS: The most common cause of dyspepsia was functional dyspepsia. Various causes of organic dyspepsia was peptic ulcer, reflux esophagitis, and esophageal ulcer.
Barium ; Dyspepsia* ; Electrocardiography ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Esophagitis, Peptic ; Fatty Liver ; Female ; Gallstones ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Peptic Ulcer ; Stomach Ulcer ; Ulcer ; Ultrasonography

Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS)-a combination of endoscopy a.nd ultrasonography was one of the most useful tools for diagnosis of digestive system diseases. This technique was known to be very effective in the assessment of depth of invasion in gastric cancer and in pancreatico-biliary diseases. We performed EUS in 589 patients with upper gastrointestinal and pancreatico-biliary tract lesion prior to surgery for past 22 months and examined the diagnostic accuracy of EUS, respectively. The results were compared to surgical histology in esophagus and stomach cancer,to concordance witb endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography(ERCP) results for pancreaticobiliary diseases. 1) In 589 patients diagnosed with EUS, the mean age of the patients was 55.9 years with a male to female ratio of 1.7: 1. 2) Patients were divided into three groups; post-upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, post ERCP and undiagnosed with other diagnostic tools. 3) Among post-upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, 64 cases were operated due to esophageal and gastric cancer and then compared to surgical histology. After compared, EUS accuracy on depth of invasion was 78.1% and sensitivity and specificity on lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer were 76.9% and 74.3%, respectively. 4) In post-ERCP cases, EUS results were compared to ERCP results and then concordance rate was 95.4%. 5) In undiagnosed cases, EUS was performed and results were reported.
Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Diagnosis* ; Digestive System Diseases ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Endosonography ; Esophagus ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Ultrasonography* ; Upper Gastrointestinal Tract*