USE OF SONOGRAPHY IN THE EVALUATION OF THE GASTROESOPHAGEAL JUNCTION

To demonstrate the gastroesophageal junction with a real-time, transab dominal sonography through the window of left lobe of liver, the norma l sonographic pattern and the thickness of the wall of abdominal esoph agus were determined. The detection rate of the normal pattern in 30 c ontrol subjects was 93%, the normal thickness of the wall being 3.8 +/ - 1.2 mm (range 2 mm to 5 mm). In 7 patients with severe acute esophag eal inflammation, the thickness was 7.6 +/- 2.1 mm (range 5 mm to 10 m m). In 6 patients with an invading lesion in the gastroesophageal junc tion due to malignancy, the thickness of the wall was more than 10 mm in each case. This preliminary study indicates that the sonographic de tection of gastroesophageal junction through the liver window can be i ncluded in routine abdominal sonography, An increased thickness of the wall needs further study to find the cause of the thickening. (C) 199 6 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.