BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has become the method of choice for the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis in clinical practice. However, the criteria allowing the specific diagnosis of the disease, mainly at non-advanced stages, are still under debate. Analysis of tissue stiffness by quantitative EUS-elastography may provide additional relevant information in this set...

Submucosal lesions (SMLs) of the upper gastrointestinal tract (1-4) represent a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to both endoscopists and gastroenterologists. Such lesions may be assessed by using multifrequency transendoscopic miniprobes, or endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), either radial or linear. Fine-needle puncture-aspiration (FNA) of SMTs should be guided by only linear EUS.

BACKGROUND/AIMS We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a forward-viewing linear endoscopic ultrasound (FV-EUS) in diagnostic EUS procedures compared to standard oblique-viewing EUS (OV-EUS). METHODS This study was a prospective, randomized study that permitted cross-over. Fifty-one patients with subepithelial pancreatobiliary and upper gastrointestinal lesions underwent FV-EUS a...

BACKGROUND Less than 67% of patients with intermediate risk for common bile duct (CBD) stones require therapeutic intervention. It is important to have an accurate, safe, and reliable method for the definitive diagnosis of CBD stones before initiating therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Few publications detail the diagnostic efficacy of linear echoendoscopy (EUS) ...

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is a viable and often preferred alternative to interventional and radiologic procedures, and the therapeutic applications of EUS continue to evolve. This evolution was catalyzed by the introduction of linear echoendoscopes that provide continuous imaging and observation of needles and by therapeutic devices that pass through large-caliber working channels. In this pa...

Patients with pancreatic cancer (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma [PDAC]) can develop abdominal pain that can be debilitating. Celiac plexus neurolysis (CPN) is a chemical ablation of the celiac plexus that can be used to treat pain caused by pancreatic malignancy. It can be performed by an anterior or posterior approach, and also can be done percutaneously or under guidance of transabdominal u...

The transabdominal ultrasonography (US) is recognized as a useful tool for the diagnosis of pancreatic diseases, it is also true that its essential weakness of “not being able to see through air” becomes a considerable handicap when observing the pancreas, which is for the most part located behind the gastrointestinal organs. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) was developed to minimize the effect...

BACKGROUND Linear endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) allows the visualization, identification, and characterization of the extent of lesions of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and adjacent structures. EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) facilitates a more accurate diagnosis of mediastinal, intra-abdominal, and pancreatic lesions through the collection of the cytological material under dir...

We fully support the use of a single linear endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) bronchoscope for both endobronchial ultrasoundguided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and endoscopic ultrasound-guided fi ne-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of mediastinal lymph nodes, as reported in the recent CHEST article by Herth et al. 1 Having initially established and reported our own results with EBUS-TB...

We fully support the use of a single linear endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) bronchoscope for both endobronchial ultrasoundguided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and endoscopic ultrasound-guided fi ne-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of mediastinal lymph nodes, as reported in the recent CHEST article by Herth et al. 1 Having initially established and reported our own results with EBUS-TB...