Reliability of balloon‐mesh cytology in detecting esophageal carcinoma in a population of US veterans

A catheter, equipped with a terminal ballon covered with nylon mesh, was developed to study the reliability of abrasive cytology for the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma. Eighty‐seven balloon cytology analyses were attempted in 82 subjects. Four patients were unable to swallow the balloon. In the 78 successful attempts, the initial diagnoses were: esophagitis (34) and esophageal carcinoma (13), established by endoscopic examination and histologic sampling; and normal esophagus (31) confirmed histologically in 25. The remaining 6 controls were younger than 40 years old, without any significant history of smoking, drinking and esophageal symptoms. For esophageal carcinoma, the sensitivity of balloon cytology was 91% and the specificity was 94% with four false‐positives. Balloon cytology was generally well‐tolerated and easily performed. This method is now being tested for screening high‐risk patients for esophageal carcinoma.