Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 14, 2022; 28(46): 6564-6572
Published online Dec 14, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i46.6564
Diagnostic evaluation of endoscopic ultrasonography with submucosal saline injection for differentiating between T1a and T1b early gastric cancer
Ji Young Park, Tae Joo Jeon
Ji Young Park, Tae Joo Jeon, Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Seoul 01757, South Korea
Ji Young Park, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, South Korea
Author contributions: Jeon TJ and Park JY contributed to conception and design; Park JY contributed to acquisition of data (acquired and managed patients); Jeon TJ contributed to development of methodology; Jeon TJ and Park JY contributed to analysis and interpretation of data; Park JY contributed to writing and review of manuscript; Park JY and Jeon TJ contributed to study supervision.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital (SGPAIK2021-10-019).
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is registered at “Clinical Research Information Service (https://cris.nih.go.kr)”. The registration identification number is KCT0007919.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Dr Ji Young Park and Tae Joo Jeon declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tae Joo Jeon, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Sanggye Paik Hospital, 1342, Dongil-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, Seoul 01757, South Korea. drjtj@paik.ac.kr
Received: August 24, 2022
Peer-review started: August 24, 2022
First decision: September 2, 2022
Revised: September 22, 2022
Accepted: November 22, 2022
Article in press: November 22, 2022
Published online: December 14, 2022
Processing time: 106 Days and 5.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has become a reliable method for predicting the invasion depth of early gastric cancer (EGC). However, diagnostic accuracy of EUS is affected by several factors. In particular, it is difficult to differentiate between T1a and T1b EGC through EUS.

AIM

To confirm whether submucosal saline injection (SSI) could improve the accuracy of EUS in distinguishing T1a and T1b lesions in EGC.

METHODS

Twenty-four patients with EGC were examined by EUS and subsequently by SSI combined EUS to compare the degree of tumor invasion. Then, they underwent endoscopic or surgical resection within 7 d. The diagnostic accuracy of EUS and SSI combined EUS was evaluated based on the final pathological findings postoperatively. Saline injected into the submucosa acted as an echoic contrast enhancing agent and had the effect of distinguishing the mucosal and submucosal layers clearly.

RESULTS

Of total 24 patients, 23 were diagnosed with EGC (T1 cancer: 13 as T1a, and 10 as T1b). Standard EUS identified 6 of 13 T1a cancer patients and 3 of 10 T1b cancer patients. Whereas, EUS-SSI identified 12 of 13 T1a cancer patients and 6 of 10 T1b cancer patients. In this study, SSI combined EUS was more accurate than EUS alone in diagnosing T1a and T1b lesions of EGC (75.0% and 37.5%, respectively).

CONCLUSION

SSI improved the diagnostic accuracy of EUS in distinguishing between the T1a and T1b stages in EGC.

Keywords: Endoscopic ultrasonography; Gastric cancer; Endoscopy; Surgery

Core Tip: Submucosal saline injection improved the diagnostic accuracy of endoscopic ultrasonography in distinguishing between the T1a and T1b stages in early gastric cancer.