As endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) equipment improves, the diagnostic and therapeutic applications of EUS in patients with portal hypertension (pHTN) have been increasingly explored. Various EUS-guided vascular interventions for pHTN have been evaluated in human or animal studies. EUS has been shown to be useful in variceal and perforating feeding veins identification, prediction of variceal recurrence/rebleeding, and assessment of response to pharmacological therapy for pHTN. When compared to conventional endoscopic therapies, EUS-guided therapy for varices and/or perforating feeding veins can ensure intra-variceal delivery of injection therapy, allow real-time monitoring of variceal obliteration, and provide injection therapy under pure EUS guidance when the target varix is endoscopically obscured. While the feasibility of EUS-guided assessment of portal hemodynamics and creation of intrahepatic portosystemic shunt has been evaluated, further studies would be needed to assess the long term outcomes before routine application.
Animals ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal* ; Portasystemic Shunt, Surgical ; Ultrasonography ; Varicose Veins ; Veins

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), with or without fine needle aspiration (FNA), has become an essential tool in the evaluation of pancreatobiliary diseases. Although conventional EUS is superior to multidetector computed tomography in tumor detection and staging, there are situations when characterization of various pancreatobiliary lesions remains difficult. Contrast-enhanced EUS (CE EUS) can further improve the detection and characterization of pancreatic solid lesions such as ductal adenocarcinoma, neuroendocrine tumor, or mass-forming autoimmune pancreatitis based on differences in the enhancement pattern of the target lesions. It is also useful in differentiating between mural nodules and mucous clots in pancreatic cystic neoplasms, and characterizing various lesions in the gallbladder and bile duct. CE EUS is complementary to FNA and has the potential to increase the diagnostic yield on the first FNA needle pass.
Adenocarcinoma ; Bile Ducts ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Gallbladder ; Multidetector Computed Tomography ; Needles ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Pancreatic Cyst ; Pancreatitis ; Ultrasonography*