Abstract
Lugol's solution spraying method hss been applied in esophagoscopy for the purpose of the differential diagnosis of many esophageal diseases; that is, inflammatory disease, ulcer, and hiatus hernia etc. This paper aimed to resolve the mechanism of vital staining on in vivo and in vitro experimental studies. As demonstrated by histochemical and biochemical esti-mation of tissue glycogen, the content of glycogen within the esophageal cancer cells decreased compared with it in the normal esophageal epithelium by anthrone agents. The frozen section of the esophageal cancer tissue was stained with Lugol's solution as small, irregularshapedly and scat-teredly brown area. On the other hand, the frozen section of normal esophageal epithelium revealed the uniformly and intensely stained layer, which represented the uniform permeation of iodine in the squamous epithelium. Clinically, this method has been applied in endoscopic diagnosis of the cancer of the esophagus for the following purpose: (1) Diagnosis of esophageal cancer with intraepithelial invasion (2) Determination of the oral margin of the primary or secondary cancerous lesion (3) Diagnosis of the esophago-gastric junction (4) Observation of the morphological and functional changes on the esophageal epithelium surrounding the cancerous lesions (5) Diagnosis of the separate or satellite cancerous nodule
