Helical CT of the stomach: differentiation between benign and malignant pathologies, together with the staging of XXXX .

@entity1 @entity1496 @entity5 @entity2286 @entity2802 @entity3621 @entity356
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the capacity of Helical Hydro-CT to differentiate between benign and malignant gastric pathologies, and also to measure its usefulness in the staging of @entity356 . @entity1 AND DESIGN: We perform a cross-sectional study to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of CT, including @entity1 prospectively. We study 92 @entity1 with a clinical suspicion of gastric pathology using helical CT with a contrast agent (HCTC), water being the oral contrast agent, and i.v. @entity1496 contrast. According to the findings of previous works, we considered stomachs to be normal when the thickness of their wall was less than or equal to 6 mm, with a multilayered appearance that stands out homogeneously with the i.v. contrast. @entity5 was diagnosed if the thickness of the wall was greater, together with strong marking by the contrast agent and loss of the normal multilayered pattern. Parietal thickening was classified as @entity3621 if there was no excessive marking and no loss of the layered pattern. Masses with smooth borders, intraluminal growth and a rounded morphology were diagnosed as @entity5 . The results of our 92 studies were compared in all cases with the findings of endoscopic studies, while in the 52 @entity1 treated with surgery they were compared against surgical findings. RESULTS: In 12 of the 92 @entity1 studied using HCTC no gastric pathology was observed by CT or endoscopy. Of the 80 pathological cases CT was used to diagnose 29 as benign pathology, 19 of which were confirmed as such by histology, and 51 cases as malignant pathology, of which 49 were confirmed by histology. We obtained a sensitivity of 81.7% in the diagnosis of malignant pathology and a specificity of 90%, with a @entity2286 of 96% and a NPV of 62%. Regarding @entity2802 staging (in comparison with the 1997 @entity2802 classification), the diagnostic reliability obtained amounted to 56% for T and N, and 87% for M. CONCLUSIONS: Helical hydro CT makes it possible to diagnose advanced @entity356 . Its usefulness basically lies in the evaluation of metastatic @entity5 . It has also been shown to be useful in the diagnosis of benign pathologies. It is not a good screening method for the diagnosis of @entity356 .
