ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical value of ultrasonography guided percutaneous core needle biopsy in pancreatic lesions. Methods Thirty-four patients with 36 pancreatic lesions in Shanghai First People′s Hospital Afifliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University from February 2012 to November 2013 underwent conventional ultrasound-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy using automatic gun and 18-gauge biopsy needles. The site, size, internal and surrounding vascularity, the sampling number of the lesions, and whether the specimens′ quality was satisfied were recorded. Then specimens were sent for pathological examination, and all above observations were compared with the ifnal diagnosis. Results The number of lesions with 2, 3 and 4 samplings was 32, 2 and 2, respectively. The average number of sampling was 2.2 (mean, 2.17;standard deviation, 0.51) and the acquisition rate of satisifed specimens was 89%(32/36). The pathological results of biopsy were malignant in 31 of 36 lesions including 27 cases of ductal adenocarcinoma, 2 cases of lymphoma, 1 case of small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and 1 case of uterine leiomyosarcoma metastasis. The other 5 lesions were non-malignant including 3 cases of benign lesion, 1 cases of atypical hyperplasia and 1 cases of granulation tissue. The 36 lesions were ifnally diagnosed as 34 cases of pancreatic malignancy, 2 cases of non-malignant neoplasm. The sensitivity, speciifcity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of ultrasonography guided percutaneous core needle biopsy in pancreatic lesions were 91%(31/34), 100%(2/2), 92%(33/36), 100%(31/31) and 40%(2/5), respectively. Youden index was 0.91. Two patients had mild upper abdominal pain and 1 patient had transient elevated serum amylase. No pancreatitis, pancreatic fistula, peritonitis, bleeding or dispersion of malignant cells along the penetrating channel or other serious complications occurred. Conclusion Ultrasonography guided percutaneous core needle biopsy is a simple, rapid, safe and effective diagnostic method in pancreatic lesions with high clinical value.