Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy, safety, and clinical utility of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) of pancreatic masses.
Methods: Forty-seven patients were referred for EUS with a pancreatic mass and suspicion of pancreatic cancer based upon painless obstructive jaundice, epigastric abdominal pain plus weight loss/anorexia, or idiopathic pancreatitis. All patients underwent EUS with both radial (Olympus UM20) and linear array (Pentax FG32-UA) systems. After TNM staging by EUS, ultrasound directed FNA of the pancreatic mass was performed using a 23 gauge, 4 cm long needle.
Results: EUS-guided FNA was performed in all 47 patients. Results: successful targeting = 100%, adequate cellularity = 100%,
Findings: adeno Ca = 25, squamous cell Ca = 1, lymphoma = 1, poorly differentiated Ca= 1, atypical cytology or suspicious for carcinoma = 9, no malignant cells = 10. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of EUS-guided pancreatic FNA for the diagnosis of malignancy was 64%, 100%, 100% and 16% respectively.
Conclusions: EUS with FNA is useful for detection of malignancy in a pancreatic mass. The procedure appears to have a complication rate of 2%. Impact of this technique on clinical management of patients needs further evaluation.