Diagnostic value of endoscopic ultrasonography for gastrointestinal leiomyoma

AIM: To investigate the clinical pathologic features of gastrointestinal leiomyoma and the diagnostic value of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) on gastrointestinal leiomyoma. METHODS: A total of 106 patients with gastrointestinal leiomyoma diagnosed with EUS were studied. The location, size and layer origin of gastric and esophageal leiomyomas were analyzed and compared. The histological diagnosis of the resected specimens by endoscopy or surgery in some patients was compared with their results of EUS. RESULTS: The majority of esophageal leiomyomas were located in the middle and lower part of the esophagus and their size was smaller than 1.0 cm, and 62.1 % of esophageal leiomyomas originated from the muscularis mucosae. Most of the gastric leiomyomas were located in the body and fundus of the stomach with a size of 1-2 cm. Almost all gastric leiomyomas (94.2 %) originated from the muscularis propria. The postoperative histological results of 54 patients treated by endoscopic resection or surgical excision were completely consistent with the preoperative diagnosis of EUS, and the diagnostic specificity of EUS to gastrointestinal leiomyoma was 94.7 %. CONCLUSION: The size and layer origin of esophageal leiomyomas are different from that of gastric leiomyomas. Being safe and accurate, EUS is the best method not only for gastrointestinal leiomyoma diagnosis but also for the follow-up of patients.