The gastroscopic selective collection of cytologic material can be practiced with
abrasive and washing methods. Techniques have been developed so that the whole gastric
wall can be selectively reached by cytodiagnostic methods. Cytological material of
the highest quality can be collected in sufficient quantity. Technical and methodological
details must be considered. According to present limited experiences, diagnostic efficiency
seems to be very good. A comparison with gastroscopic directed biopsy shows that both
methods of microscopic diagnostics complement each other and enhance the likelihood
of recognizing a carcinoma of the stomach.
Selective exfoliative cytology - early gastric carcinoma - tumor cell detection -
gastroscopy - gastric biopsy
