Nodal staging: Number or site of nodes? How to improve accuracy? Is FNA always necessary?Junctional tumors - what's N and what's M?

摘要

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) allows one to identify the presence of lymph nodes in the mid and posterior mediastinum, the peri-gastric area and the celiac axis region [1 ]. EUS, by means of endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (EUS FNA), may also be employed for procurement of a tissue diagnosis in a minimally invasive fashion [ 1 ]. This has been proven to be useful in a number of gastrointestinal and pulmonary malignancies. This review article focuses on nodal staging of esophageal cancer and attempts to answer the following questions: 1. Number or site of nodes for nodal staging? How to improve accuracy of nodal staging? 2. Is FNA always necessary? 3. Junctional tumors - what's N and what's M?