Laparoscopic ultrasonography for abdominal tumor staging: technical aspects and imaging findings

Is there additional information from laparoscopic ultrasound in tumor staging?

Accurate preoperative staging of gastrointestinal malignancies is of major importance in the decision for adequate stage-related therapy. There is evidence that laparoscopy in combination with laparoscopic ultrasound is more accurate in the detection of intra-abdominal metastases than conventional preoperative imaging. Staging laparoscopy in combination with laparoscopic ultrasound is a minimally invasive technique that reveals intra-abdominal disseminated tumor spread and local tumor extent. Therefore laparoscopic ultrasound is an ideal adjunct to laparoscopy because this technique may compensate for the lack of tactile feedback with laparoscopic instruments. Color-coded Doppler imaging can be very valuable for the assessment of resectability in patients with pancreatic cancer. Current data confirm that laparoscopic ultrasound is capable of enhancing the accuracy of staging laparoscopy. Compared to standard laparoscopy, a combination of both techniques markedly increases the sensitivity of staging laparoscopy in the determination of unresectable disease. This is of major importance in the assessment of occult liver metastases and lymph node involvement. Laparoscopic ultrasonography improves the diagnostic accuracy compared to conventional imaging techniques and should be considered as integral part of staging laparoscopy.

Diagnostic and interventional laparoscopy and intraoperative ultrasonography in the management of pancreatic disease

The laparoscopic management of pancreatic disorders has evolved dramatically from its inception in 1911 and its rediscovery in the 1970s. Although investigators once proclaimed that "it seems unlikely that laparoscopy will have any more than an extremely limited use in the investigation of pancreatic disorders," laparoscopy and LUS now have a well-recognized role in the staging of pancreatic cancer and an increasing part in the management of benign pancreatic disease at many institutions. Although the appropriate role of LS and LUS is debatable, the development and refinement of laparoscopic techniques and instrumentation and the improvement of noninvasive diagnostic modalities will provide new data, increase the rate of resection at laparotomy, and allow surgeons to treat a broader range of pancreatic disease by minimally invasive methods. The value of LS and LUS for benign and malignant pancreatic disorders has been clearly demonstrated, but the inevitable issues of hospital resource, operative expertise, and surgical philosophy will ultimately determine the role of laparoscopy and LUS in clinical practice.

Role of laparoscopy in the staging of malignant disease

Although diagnostic laparoscopy has been used by surgeons and gastroenterologists since the early 1900s, today's surgical oncologists have been relatively slow to embrace this technology. Together with the fervor and benefits afforded by laparoscopic therapeutic interventions in the management of patients with benign disease and the diagnostic usefulness in blunt trauma and abdominal pain, awareness has been rekindled regarding the advantages of laparoscopy for the staging of abdominal malignancy. As surgeons begin to realize that extirpative procedures are doomed to failure in curing patients with diffuse abdominal metastases disclosed on laparoscopic assessment, palliative measures, such as stent placement, ablative procedures, balloon dilatation, intraluminal high-dose radiation, and laser techniques will be used commonly by surgical endoscopists and gastroenterologists. Similarly, it is hoped that the use of systemic chemotherapy will achieve better specificity in cell destruction in patients identified laparoscopically to have uncontained disease in the abdominal cavity. The sensitivity of sonography combined with laparoscopy has been shown to approach that of celiotomy in the evaluation of solid organs, thereby avoiding unnecessary laparotomy and its associated morbidities. Using sonography as a complement to laparoscopy will extend the usefulness of both techniques. The application of laparoscopy and the advent of miniaturized laparoscopic instrumentation (Fig. 7), both diagnostic and therapeutic, in the management of patients with abdominal malignancy will be limited only by the creativity and expertise of physicians and instrument makers.

Spiral computed tomography for preoperative staging of potentially resectable carcinoma of the pancreatic head

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic cancer is often locally invasive. Preoperative staging attempts to identify patients suitable for resection, in order to minimize unnecessary operations. The aim of this study was to assess the improved imaging provided by spiral computed tomography (CT) in the preoperative staging of potentially resectable pancreatic head carcinoma.

METHODS

In 56 consecutive patients with pancreatic head carcinoma spiral CT findings were correlated prospectively with operative and histopathological findings. Criteria for irresectability at CT were infiltration of the peripancreatic fat and vascular ingrowth grade D, on a scale from A to F.

RESULTS

At operation 27 (48 per cent) of 56 tumours were irresectable. Small metastases were found in seven patients (12 per cent). Ingrowth (adherence) to the portal or mesenteric vein was present in 19 patients (34 per cent). The sensitivity and specificity of CT for irresectability were 78 and 76 per cent respectively. Resection rates with a vascular margin free of tumour were 100 per cent for grade A, 63 per cent for grade B, 44 per cent for grade C, 15 per cent for grade D and 0 per cent for grade E, with a predictive value for ingrowth of 88 per cent for grades D or higher. The resectability rate was 11 per cent (one of nine) when infiltration of the anterior peripancreatic fat was present and 67 per cent when infiltration was absent (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Spiral CT with thin slices seems to improve detection of distant metastases and vascular ingrowth in patients with pancreatic head carcinoma.