San José, Costa Rica. August, 2015.

Patients with esophagus cancer, gastric cancer, pancreas and bile ducts diseases, among others, will benefit from a new diagnostic tool: Endoscopic Ultrasound, which is being used at the Integrated Center of the Digestive Apparatus of the Clínica Bíblica Hospital.

This equipment is at the forefront of technology and is used to diagnose, with a high degree of accuracy, the extensions of tumors, particularly pancreatic, bile duct, lung, esophagus, stomach, rectum, etc.

This tool uses an insertion tube similar to a gastroscope and has an ultrasound transductor at the end. The apparatus is introduced through the mouth, in the same way as in a gastroscopy, but with a longer duration, of about 20 to 30 minutes, which allows being closer to all the tissues, offering greater sensitiveness and specificity for the diagnosis of many tumors.

The Endoscopic Ultrasound is more precise than a conventional abdomen ultrasound, a CT scan or a MRI.

Dr. Manuel Chaves Cervantes, gastroenterologist, explained that “when there is already a diagnosis of a tumor lesion, another advantage that this high tech tool offers is that it allows the definition of how deep the tumor is, or how severe is the lesion, with the purpose of indicating a more accurate treatment.”

For example, if it is an early gastric cancer, found in the first mucous layer, the endoscopic ultrasound will indicate if the cancer advanced beyond the layer, and if not so, it may be removed with the same endoscope. If on the contrary, the endoscopic ultrasound indicates that the cancer is more advanced, one will proceed to the surgical treatment. This tool classifies the tumor, which allows the patient a better life quality, upon obtaining the adequate treatment,” says Dr. Chaves.

Dr. Chaves reaffirms that the Endoscopic Ultrasound is a tool of high sensitivity and specificity, which has shown its effectiveness, since it travels through the entire digestive tube, achieving greater proximity to the organs, significantly increasing the diagnostic probabilities.