Transabdominal ultrasonography is the bread and butter of diagnosis of abdominal disorders (in the past, present, and future)

Excerpt

According to CANCER STATISTICS IN JAPAN─2022, the five cancer sites with the worst mortality rates in 2020 were lung, colon/rectum, stomach, pancreas, and liver for males and females as a whole. The sites with the second to fifth worst mortality rates were all gastrointestinal cancers, with the mortality rate for these four gastrointestinal cancers combined far exceeding that for lung cancer. Endoscopy plays a major role in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer and stomach cancer, but transabdominal ultrasonography (TUS) is regarded as the first step for diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and liver cancer. Since a person’s chances of developing cancer increase with age, the incidence of cancer is high among the elderly population in Japan, which has an aging population. In terms of age-adjusted cancer mortality rate, however, the only cancer with an increasing rate in both men and women in Japan is pancreatic cancer (the rates for breast cancer and cervical cancer are also increasing in women). Pancreatic cancer is one of the most refractory cancers. The 5-year survival rate for patients as a whole diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is still less than 10%. In addition, pancreatic cancer is not the only gastrointestinal cancer for which TUS is the first step in the diagnosis. It is also the first step for cancers such as liver cancer, gallbladder cancer, bile duct cancer, and renal cancer. The spleen and abdominal aorta are also important gastrointestinal organs. In addition to cancer, TUS is used to detect abnormalities of the liver, pancreas, gallbladder, bile duct, kidneys, spleen and abdominal aorta. …