STUDIES OF ESOPHAGEAL BALLOON CYTOLOGY IN LINXIAN, CHINA

Esophageal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in China . Esophageal cancer has a very poor prognosis, principally because mos t tumors are asymptomatic until they are unresectable. Esophageal ball oon cytology is an early detection method developed by Chinese scienti sts to identify resectable early cancers and precursor lesions, Previo us studies have reported high sensitivities for detecting esophageal c ancer in symptomatic patients, The current report describes several st udies evaluating this diagnostic technique in asymptomatic individuals , A comparison of Chinese and U.S. cytological diagnoses of the same e sophageal samples showed that the Chinese categories of precancerous n eoplasia were more inclusive than the corresponding U.S. categories, C omparisons of both Chinese and U.S. cytological diagnoses with concurr ent histological findings showed low (14-36%) sensitivities for the cy tological detection of biopsy-proven cancers. Prospective follow-up st udies of several screened cohorts showed a consistent progression of r isk for developing esophageal cancer with increasing severity of initi al cytological diagnosis, These preliminary studies suggest that esoph ageal balloon cytology is a useful technique that can benefit from add itional research to improve its optimal performance.