Pancreatic cancers have a poor prognosis, and their incident rates have risen. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is an efficient and reliable diagnostic modality for pancreatic lesions, providing high spatial resolution. However, while EUS helps to detect minor pancreatic lesions, nearly all solid pancreatic lesions are hypoechoic, which creates difficulty in making differential diagnoses of pancreatic lesions. When diagnosing pancreatic lesions, the performance of image-enhanced EUS techniques is essential, such as EUS elastography or contrast-enhanced harmonic EUS (CH-EUS). CH-EUS diagnosis is based on assessing the vascularity of lesions, whereas tissue elasticity is measured via EUS elastography. Elastography is either strain or shear-wave, depending on the different mechanical properties being evaluated. The usefulness of enhanced EUS techniques is demonstrated in this review for the differential diagnosis of pancreatic lesions, including solid and cystic lesions, and pancreatic cancer staging.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Transpapillary forceps biopsy is an effective diagnostic technique in patients with biliary stricture. This prospective study aimed to determine the usefulness of the wire-grasping method as a new technique for forceps biopsy. METHODS: Consecutive patients with biliary stricture or irregularities of the bile duct wall were randomly allocated to either the direct or wire-grasping method group. In the wire-grasping method, forceps in the duodenum grasps a guide-wire placed into the bile duct beforehand, and then, the forceps are pushed through the papilla without endoscopic sphincterotomy. In the direct method, forceps are directly pushed into the bile duct alongside a guide-wire. The primary endpoint was the success rate of obtaining specimens suitable for adequate pathological examination. RESULTS: In total, 32 patients were enrolled, and 28 (14 in each group) were eligible for analysis. The success rate was significantly higher using the wire-grasping method than the direct method (100% vs 50%, p=0.016). Sensitivity and accuracy for the diagnosis of cancer were comparable in patients with the successful procurement of biopsy specimens between the two methods (91% vs 83% and 93% vs 86%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The wire-grasping method is useful for diagnosing patients with biliary stricture or irregularities of the bile duct wall.
Bile Ducts ; Biliary Tract ; Biopsy* ; Constriction, Pathologic* ; Diagnosis ; Duodenum ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Methods* ; Prospective Studies* ; Sphincterotomy, Endoscopic ; Surgical Instruments*

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) has been used to diagnose gastrointestinal submucosal tumors (SMTs). Although rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) has been reported to improve the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA for pancreatic lesions, on-site cytopathologists are not routinely available. Given this background, the usefulness of ROSE by endosonographers themselves for pancreatic tumors has also been reported. However, ROSE by endosonographers for diagnosis of SMT has not been reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA with ROSE by endosonographers for SMT, focusing on diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), compared with that of EUS-FNA alone. METHODS: Twenty-two consecutive patients who underwent EUS-FNA with ROSE by endosonographers for SMT followed by surgical resection were identified. Ten historical control subjects who underwent EUS-FNA without ROSE were used for comparison. RESULTS: The overall diagnostic accuracy for SMT was significantly higher in cases with than without ROSE (100% vs. 80%, p=0.03). The number of needle passes by FNA with ROSE by endosonographers tended to be fewer, although accuracy was increased (3.3±1.3 vs. 5.9±3.8, p=0.06). CONCLUSIONS: ROSE by endosonographers during EUS-FNA for SMT is useful for definitive diagnosis, particularly for GIST.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Diagnosis* ; Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors* ; Humans ; Needles

Background/Aims: Rosemont classification (RC) with en-doscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is important for diagnosing chronic pancreatitis (CP) but is based only on subjective judgement. EUS shear wave measurement (EUS-SWM) is a precise modality based on objective judgment, but its usefulness has not been extensively studied yet. This study evaluated the utility of EUS-SWM for diagnosing CP and esti-mating CP severity by determining the presence of endocrine dysfunction along with diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: Between June 2018 and December 2018, 52 patients who underwent EUS and EUS-SWM were classified into two groups according to RC: non-CP (indeterminate CP and normal) and CP (consistent and suggestive of CP). The EUSSWM value by shear wave velocity was evaluated with a me-dian value. The EUS-SWM value was compared with RC and the number of EUS features. The diagnostic accuracy and cutoff value of EUS-SWM for CP and DM and its sensitivity and specificity were calculated. Results: The EUS-SWM value significantly positively correlated with the RC and the number of EUS features. The EUS-SWM values that were consistent and suggestive of CP were significantly higher than that of normal. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve for the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-SWM for CP was 0.97. The cutoff value of 2.19 had 100% sensitivity and 94% specificity. For endocrine dysfunction in CP, the AUROC was 0.75. The cutoff value of 2.78 had 70% sensitiv-ity and 56% specificity. Conclusions EUS-SWM provides an objective assessment and can be an alternative diagnostic tool for diagnosing CP. EUS-SWM may also be useful for pre-dicting the presence of endocrine dysfunction.