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We would like to thank Tehami et al 1 for their interest in our work2 and would like to address the caveats that they have outlined in their letter. One, the statement ‘a definitive diagnosis could be established in 2/21 patients in the endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided group’ is incorrect. A definitive diagnosis could be established in 2/21 patients only with cumulative assessment of both biopsy passes; in 19 others, a diagnosis was made on a single pass. Two, the authors state that this yield contradicts previously published diagnostic rates of 93.9%—however, a diagnosis was established in 100% of subjects in our study. Three, the authors debate the exclusion of patients with alternative diagnosis made at EUS from this trial. Per protocol, if EUS identified alternative aetiologies for elevated liver …
Footnotes
Contributors JYB, SV and RH were involved in manuscript writing and critical revision of the manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests JYB: Consultant for Olympus America Inc. and Boston Scientific Corporation.SV: Consultant for Boston Scientific Corp., Olympus America Inc., Covidien and Creo Medical.RH: Consultant for Boston Scientific Corp., Olympus America Inc., Covidien, Creo Medical, Nine Points Medical and Cook Medical.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.