Endoscopic ultrasonography

Areas of application for endosonography can be roughly divided into three c ategories: standard diagnostic examination; operative diagnostic examinatio n (fine-needle aspiration); and operative therapeutic procedures. Neverthel ess, endoscopic ultrasonography remains a single technique, in which the ph ysician can not only raise a suspicion of a particular disease, but can als o obtain cytological confirmation when needed and carry out a therapeutic p rocedure when indicated. Widely accepted indications for endosonography are the staging of esophageal and rectal cancer, and the visualization of subm ucosal lesions and gastric wall diseases; other indications, such as imagin g of the pancreas and biliary tree, are still being discussed.