Charles J. Lightdale, MD

Two decades have elapsed since publication of the first papers describing the examination of the pancreas via the stomach and the duodenum using an ultrasound probe fixed to an endoscope tip. Initial attempts to image the pancreas in this fashion proved difficult and frustrating, but they were promising enough that instrument makers and gastrointestinal endoscopists persisted in developing increasingly effective devices.

Kadish and Kochman provide a superb review of the current role of endoscopy in the diagnosis, staging, palliation, and cure of gastrointestinal cancer. There is no doubt that recent technological advances have changed the focus of endoscopy; there is a much greater emphasis now on finding and treating early cancer and precancerous lesions.