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Abstract: Seventy‐six myogenic tumors (60 leimyomas, 3 leiomyoblastomas, 13 leiomyosarcomas) surgically resected from the upper gastrointestinal tract were studied histopathologically to define the characteristics of benign and malignant tumors. Twenty‐nine of these lesions (22 leiomyomas, 3 leiomyoblastomas, 4 leiomyosarcomas) were additionally studied by EUS before resection to investigate the relationship between EUS and histopathological findings and establish a scoring system enabling the differentiation of malignant from benign lesions. The results indicated that coagulative necrosis and bleeding were principally responsible for the heterogeneous internal echo of tumors. Anechoic areas corresponded to colliquative necrosis or cystic degeneration. Five EUS findings of prime importance in identifying malignant myogenic tumors were found to be: (1) a tumor diameter of ±3.0 cm, (2) nodular shape, (3) an ulceration depth of ± 5 mm, (4) a heterogeneous internal echo, and (5) the presence of an anechoic area. Each of these five parameters was assigned a score of 1 Point, and lesions with a total score of 3 or more were evaluated as being malignant. The sensitivity and specificity of our scoring system for myogenic tumors were respectively 100% and 73% in the 29 cases studied by EUS and 100% and 80% for all 76 tumors studied histopathologically.
Yamada et al. (1992) studied this question.