Spiral CT in gastric carcinoma: comparison with barium study, fiberoptic gastroscopy and histopathology.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate spiral computed tomography (CT) including virtual gastroscopy for diagnosis of gastric carcinoma in comparison with upper gastrointestinal series (UGI), fiberoptic gastroscopy (FG) and histopathology.


METHODS
Sixty patients with histologically proven gastric carcinoma (54 advanced and 6 early) were included in this study. The results of spiral CT were compared with those of UGI and FG. Two observers blindly evaluated images of spiral CT and UGI and video recording of FG with consensus in terms of diagnostic confidence with a five-point scale. Sensitivities of lesion detection, Borrmann's classification of spiral CT, UGI and FG, as well as the accuracy of TNM staging of spiral CT were determined by comparing them to surgical and histological findings.


RESULTS
The lesion detection rate was 98 % (59/60), 95 % (57/60) and 98 % (59/60) for spiral CT, UGI and FG, respectively. There were no statistical differences in the detection sensitivity among the three techniques (P>0.05). For the sensitivity in Borrmann's classification, spiral CT was higher than that of UGI (P=0.025) and similar to that of FG (P>0.05). The accuracy of spiral CT in staging the gastric carcinoma was 76.7 %. Six cases of early gastric carcinoma were all detected by spiral CT as well as FG.


CONCLUSIONS
Spiral CT is equivalent to UGI and FG in the detection of gastric carcinoma, and superior to UGI but similar to FG in the Borrmann's classification of advanced gastric carcinoma. Spiral CT is more valuable than FG in the staging of gastric carcinoma.
Chen
Feng
F
Department of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
Ni
Yi-Cheng
YC
Zheng
Kai-Er
KE
Ju
Sheng-Hong
SH
Sun
Jun
J
Ou
Xi-Long
XL
Xu
Man-Hua
MH
Zhang
Hao
H
Marchal
Guy
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001464:Barium; D001706:Biopsy; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005773:Gastroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
D001464:Barium