Neoplasia in Chronic Pancreatitis: How to Maximize the Yield of Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration

When performing endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA), identifying neoplasia in the setting of chronic pancreatitis can be technically challenging. The morphology of an ill-defined mass on sonography, presence of calcifications or intervening collaterals, reverberation from a biliary stent, low yield of tissue procurement, and interpretative errors in cytopathology can result in both false-negative and false-positive results. Although these challenges cannot be completely eliminated, elastography or contrast-enhanced imaging can aid in differentiating an inflammatory mass from a neoplasm. Also, performing more passes of FNA, procuring core biopsy material, performing rapid onsite evaluation, conducting ancillary pathology studies, and even repeating the procedure on a different day can aid in improving the diagnostic performance of EUS-FNA. This review provides a concise update and offers practical tips to improving the diagnostic yield of EUS-FNA when sampling solid pancreatic mass lesions in the setting of chronic pancreatitis.

Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Management of Pancreatic Pseudocysts and Walled-Off Necrosis

The outcome of endoscopic management of pancreatic fluid collections is dependent on the type of collection being treated. While pseudocysts have an excellent treatment response, the outcomes are modest for walled-off pancreatic necrosis. Recent advances in cross-sectional body imaging have enabled a more accurate distinction of pancreatic fluid collections, which, in turn, facilitates the correct triage of patients to receive the appropriate treatment. Newly described endoscopic techniques and the development of dedicated accessories have improved the clinical outcomes in walled-off pancreatic necrosis, with treatment success rates comparable to that of minimally invasive surgery. This review summarizes the key concepts and provides a concise update on the endoscopic management of pancreatic fluid collections.

Metal versus Plastic Stent for Transmural Drainage of Pancreatic Fluid Collections

The conventional management of pancreatic fluid collections (PFCs) involves surgery or percutaneous drainage. While surgery is associated with significant complications and mortality, percutaneous drainage is associated with prolonged hospitalization and oftentimes the need for other adjunctive treatment measures. Therefore, the use of endoscopy to drain PFCs is becoming increasingly popular. Randomized trials have demonstrated that endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage is superior to conventional endoscopy in terms of technical success and potentially decreases the rates of procedural complications. While transmural drainage is usually undertaken by deployment of plastic endoprosthesis, of late, fully covered self-expandable metal stents are being placed with increasing frequency. However, the benefits of this approach are unclear and require further validation in prospective trials.

Procore and Flexible 19 Gauge Needle Can Replace Trucut Biopsy Needle?

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is routinely performed for establishing tissue diagnosis in patients with gastrointestinal tumors. The concept of delivering chemotherapy based on molecular markers and the ability to establish a reliable diagnosis in lieu of an onsite cytopathologist has fuelled the recent trend in procuring core tissue by means of EUS-guided fine needle biopsy. To overcome the technical limitations induced by the rigidity of the Trucut biopsy needle, a new ProCore needle with reverse bevel technology has been developed. Recent data suggests that the newly developed flexible 19 gauge needle can also procure core tissue and has easy maneuverability when navigating the transduodenal route. Irrespective of the needles being used, the best clinical outcomes can be attained only by practicing evidence-based techniques, procuring adequate quantity of sample for ancillary studies, and processing the specimens appropriately.