Radiology · 1988 · 131 citations · 0 references
MedicineOncologySurgeryGastrointestinal OncologyMetastasisSurgical OncologyAbdominal ImagingCancer StagingGastric CancerGastrointestinal RadiologyLymph Node MetastasisTumor StagingComputed Tomography StagingEnlarged Lymph NodesGastric Cancer ImagingLymph Node Metastasis AssessmentPreoperative StagingStaging Of Advanced DiseaseStaging Of Localized DiseaseTumor-node-metastasis Staging
Seventy-five patients with gastric carcinoma underwent preoperative staging with computed tomography (CT). In 14 patients, CT failed to demonstrate lymphadenopathy despite the presence of malignant lymph nodes at surgery. In 13 patients, CT demonstrated enlarged nodes, but no malignant involvement was found at surgery. Although spread to the pancreas was correctly predicted in three patients with lack of fat plane between tumor and pancreas, five patients lacking a fat plane had no invasion, whereas eight patients with an intact fat plane had invasion. Thirty-five patients (47%) were incorrectly staged with CT:23 (31%) were understaged and 12 (16%) were overstaged. CT does not accurately display the true extent of disease in patients with gastric carcinoma and therefore should not be used routinely for staging.