Gastric carcinoma is a malignant tumor arising from the lining of the stomach. While endoscopy with biopsy is the primary method of diagnosis, ultrasound can sometimes detect gastric cancer, particularly when the stomach wall is thickened or a mass is large enough to be visible on transabdominal scanning. On ultrasound, gastric carcinoma may appear as focal or diffuse wall thickening with loss of the normal layered wall pattern. Endoscopic ultrasound provides a more detailed evaluation and is used for staging by assessing the depth of tumor invasion through the stomach wall layers and detecting enlarged regional lymph nodes.
Sonography Term