Abstract
Usefulness of pan-endoscopes was assessed in detecting cancers of the stomach in the early stage in comparison with conventional fiber endoscopes.Results : 1) A small diameter pan-endoscope for the upper gastrointestinal tract (the Olympus Optical Company, the Fujinon Optical Inc., the Asahi Optical Company, the Machida Manufacturing Company) was superior to a conventional big diameter endoscope as screening instrument in detecting cancers of the stomach and establishing a definitive diagnosis. 2) The examination with it is less painful to the patient. Failure to introduce the instrument is quite rate. No serious accidents have been experienced. The small diameter pan-endoscope is considered to be very useful for screening examination. 3) Randomized samples over 50 years of age, 2, 463 males and 1, 497 females were examined with a small diameter pan-endoscope for detection of stomach cancer, producing a cancer detection rate of 1.9% in the male, 1.1% in the female. A rate of early gastric cancer to total cancer was 71% (45 cases). From the evidence presented herein, the small diameter pan-endoscope has become an extremely useful tool for routine examination of upper gastrointestinal tract and it would virtually substitute x-ray examination after some problems have been solved.
