Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration needles: which one and in what situation?

EUS-guided FNAC in intra-abdominal lesions: Technique of tissue acquisition, ancillary testing, pearls and perils, and prospects

Endoscopic ultrasound enables visualization of lesions within and in the vicinity of the gastrointestinal tract. Endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration cytology (EUS-FNAC) helps in targeting various luminal and extraluminal lesions both diagnostically and therapeutically. Various intra-abdominal organs amenable to EUS-FNA include the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), pancreas, kidney, adrenal gland, liver, bile duct, gallbladder, spleen, and lymph nodes. EUS-FNAC is mostly done for pancreatic and intra-abdominal lymph nodal lesions. In the present review, we have discussed various aspects of EUS-FNAC.

Comparison of Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Tissue Acquisition Using a 20-Gauge Menghini Needle with a Lateral Forward Bevel and a 22-Gauge Franseen Needle: A Single-Center Large Cohort Study

Background/Aims

Several fine-needle biopsy (FNB) needles are available for endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided tissue acquisition. However, there is disagreement on which type of needle has the best diagnostic yield. The aim of this study was to compare the performance and safety of two commonly used EUS-FNB needles.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients who underwent EUS-FNB between June 2016 and March 2020 in our hospital. Two types of needles were evaluated: a 20-gauge Menghini needle with a lateral forward bevel and a 22-gauge Franseen needle. Rapid on-site evaluation was performed in all the cases. A multivariate analysis was performed to clarify the negative predictive factors for obtaining a histological diagnosis. Propensity score matching was performed to compare the diagnostic yields of these two needles.

Results

We analyzed 666 patients and 690 lesions. The overall diagnostic rate of histology alone was 88.8%, and the overall adverse event rate was 1.5%. Transduodenal access and small lesions (≤2 cm) were identified as negative predictive factors for obtaining a histological diagnosis. After propensity score matching, 482 lesions were analyzed. The diagnostic accuracy rates of histology in the M and F needle groups were 89.2% and 88.8%, respectively (p=1.00).

Conclusions

Both the needles showed high diagnostic yield, and no significant difference in performance was observed between the two.

European Guideline on IgG4-related digestive disease - UEG and SGF evidence-based recommendations

The overall objective of these guidelines is to provide evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related digestive disease in adults and children. IgG4-related digestive disease can be diagnosed only with a comprehensive work-up that includes histology, organ morphology at imaging, serology, search for other organ involvement, and response to glucocorticoid treatment. Indications for treatment are symptomatic patients with obstructive jaundice, abdominal pain, posterior pancreatic pain, and involvement of extra-pancreatic digestive organs, including IgG4-related cholangitis. Treatment with glucocorticoids should be weight-based and initiated at a dose of 0.6-0.8 mg/kg body weight/day orally (typical starting dose 30-40 mg/day prednisone equivalent) for 1 month to induce remission and then be tapered within two additional months. Response to initial treatment should be assessed at week 2-4 with clinical, biochemical and morphological markers. Maintenance treatment with glucocorticoids should be considered in multi-organ disease or history of relapse. If there is no change in disease activity and burden within 3 months, the diagnosis should be reconsidered. If the disease relapsed during the 3 months of treatment, immunosuppressive drugs should be added.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided sampling of solid pancreatic masses: the fine needle aspiration or fine needle biopsy dilemma. Is the best needle yet to come?

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is currently the standard of care for sampling pancreatic solid masses by using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). The accuracy of the technique is reported to be high, especially if coupled with the rapid on site evaluation (ROSE), and it has a high safety profile. However, FNA presents some limitations, such as the small amount of tissue that can be collected and the inability of obtaining a core tissue with intact histological architecture, which is relevant to perform immunohistochemical analysis, molecular profiling and, therefore, targeted therapies. Moreover, the presence of the ROSE by an expert cytopathologist is very important to maximize the diagnostic yield of FNA technique; however, it is not widely available, especially in small centers. Hence, the introduction of EUS fine needle biopsy (FNB) with a new generation of needles, which show a high safety profile too and a satisfying diagnostic accuracy even in the absence of ROSE, could be the key to overcome the limitations of FNA. However, FNB has not yet shown diagnostic superiority over FNA. Considering all the technical aspects of FNA and FNB, the different types of needle currently available, comparisons in term of diagnostic yield, and the different techniques of sampling, a tailored approach should be used in order to determine the needle that is most appropriate for the different specific scenarios.

Suboptimal Agreement Among Cytopathologists in Diagnosis of Malignancy Based on Endoscopic Ultrasound Needle Aspirates of Solid Pancreatic Lesions: A Validation Study

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Despite the widespread use of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) to sample pancreatic lesions and the standardization of pancreaticobiliary cytopathologic nomenclature, there are few data on inter-observer agreement among cytopathologists evaluating pancreatic cytologic specimens obtained by EUS-FNA. We developed a scoring system to assess agreement among cytopathologists in overall diagnosis and quantitative and qualitative parameters, and evaluated factors associated with agreement.

METHODS

We performed a prospective study to validate results from our pilot study that demonstrated moderate to substantial inter-observer agreement among cytopathologists for the final cytologic diagnosis. In the first phase, 3 cytopathologists refined criteria for assessment of quantity and quality measures. During phase 2, EUS-FNA specimens of solid pancreatic lesions from 46 patients were evaluated by 11 cytopathologists at 5 tertiary care centers using a standardized scoring tool. Individual quantitative and qualitative measures were scored and an overall cytologic diagnosis was determined. Clinical and EUS parameters were assessed as predictors of unanimous agreement. Inter-observer agreement (IOA) was calculated using multi-rater kappa (κ) statistics and a logistic regression model was created to identify factors associated with unanimous agreement.

RESULTS

The IOA for final diagnoses, based on cytologic analysis, was moderate (κ = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.43-0.70). Kappa values did not increase when categories of suspicious for malignancy, malignant, and neoplasm were combined. IOA was slight to moderate for individual quantitative (κ = 0.007; 95% CI, -0.03 to -0.04) and qualitative parameters (κ = 0.5; 95% CI, 0.47-0.53). Jaundice was the only factor associated with agreement among all cytopathologists on multivariate analysis (odds ratio for unanimous agreement, 5.3; 95% CI, 1.1-26.89).

CONCLUSIONS

There is a suboptimal level of agreement among cytopathologists in the diagnosis of malignancy based on analysis of EUS-FNA specimens obtained from solid pancreatic masses. Strategies are needed to refine the cytologic criteria for diagnosis of malignancy and enhance tissue acquisition techniques to improve diagnostic reproducibility among cytopathologists.

Interobserver agreement among cytopathologists in the evaluation of pancreatic endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology specimens

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) has become the standard of care in the evaluation of solid pancreatic lesions. Limited data exist on interobserver agreement (IOA) among cytopathologists in assessing solid pancreatic EUS-FNA specimens. This study aimed to evaluate IOA among cytopathologists in assessing EUS-FNA cytology specimens of solid pancreatic lesions using a novel standardized scoring system and to assess individual clinical and cytologic predictors of IOA.

METHODS

Consecutive patients who underwent EUS-FNA of solid pancreatic lesions at a tertiary care referral center were included. EUS-FNA slides were evaluated by four blinded cytopathologists using a standardized scoring system that assessed final cytologic diagnosis and quantitative (number of nucleated/diagnostic cells) and qualitative (bloodiness, inflammation/necrosis, contamination, artifact) cytologic parameters. Final clinical diagnosis was based on final cytology, surgical pathology, or 1-year clinical follow-up. IOA was calculated using multi-rater kappa (κ) statistics. Bivariate analyses were performed comparing cases with and without uniform agreement among the cytopathologists followed by logistic regression with backward elimination to model likelihood of uniform agreement.

RESULTS

Ninety-nine patients were included (49 % males, mean age 64 years, mean lesion size 26 mm). IOA for final diagnosis was moderate (κ = 0.45, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.4 - 0.49) with minimal improvement when combining suspicious and malignant diagnoses (κ = 0.54, 95 %CI 0.49 - 0.6). The weighted kappa value for overall diagnosis was 0.65 (95 %CI 0.54 - 0.76). IOA was slight to fair (κ = 0.04 - 0.32) for individual cytologic parameters. A final clinical diagnosis of malignancy was the most significant predictor of agreement [OR 3.99 (CI 1.52 - 10.49)].

CONCLUSIONS

Interobserver agreement among cytopathologists for pancreatic EUS-FNA specimens is moderate-substantial for the final cytologic diagnosis. The final clinical diagnosis of malignancy was the strongest predictor of agreement. These results have significant implications for patient management and need to be validated in future trials.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle core biopsy for the diagnosis of pancreatic malignant lesions: a systematic review and Meta-Analysis

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle core biopsy (EUS-FNB) has been used as an effective method of diagnosing pancreatic malignant lesions. It has the advantage of providing well preserved tissue for histologic grading and subsequent molecular biological analysis. In order to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNB for pancreatic malignant lesions, studies assessing EUS-FNB to diagnose solid pancreatic masses were selected via Medline. Sixteen articles published between 2005 and 2015, covering 828 patients, met the inclusion criteria. The summary estimates for EUS-FNB differentiating malignant from benign solid pancreatic masses were: sensitivity 0.84 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.82–0.87); specificity 0.98 (95% CI, 0.93–1.00); positive likelihood ratio 8.0 (95% CI 4.5–14.4); negative likelihood ratio 0.17 (95% CI 0.10–0.26); and DOR 64 (95% CI 30.4–134.8). The area under the sROC curve was 0.96. Subgroup analysis did not identify other factors that could substantially affect the diagnostic accuracy, such as the study design, location of study, number of centers, location of lesion, whether or not a cytopathologist was present, and so on. EUS-FNB is a reliable diagnostic tool for solid pancreatic masses and should be especially considered for pathology where histologic morphology is preferred for diagnosis.

A feasibility study of full-field optical coherence tomography for rapid evaluation of EUS-guided microbiopsy specimens

BACKGROUND

Rapid on-site evaluation of cytologic specimens is a way of determining the adequacy of fine-needle aspiration (FNA). However, alternatives may be useful when the presence of a cytotechnologist and/or pathologist is not possible.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the feasibility of using full-field optical coherence tomography (FFOCT) for FNA specimen quality assessment.

DESIGN

FFOCT images were acquired on gastric, pancreatic, pelvic, and lymph-node formalin-fixed FNA specimens and were compared with histology of the same samples.

SETTING

Pathology suite in a hospital.

PATIENTS

Fourteen patients undergoing gastric, pancreatic, pelvic, or lymph-node EUS-guided FNA biopsy.

INTERVENTIONS

FFOCT imaging on formalin-fixed samples before histologic procedures.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS

FFOCT imaging feasibility and visibility of normal and abnormal features on images.

RESULTS

FFOCT imaging was possible. Blood, mucus, muscle, collagen, and digestive mucosa could be identified as well as abnormal architectural features including infiltrative pancreatic ductal carcinoma and a neuroendocrine neoplasm. Lesions at the individual cell level could not be detected.

LIMITATIONS

The study was performed on a limited number of cases.

CONCLUSION

FFOCT offers rapid, noninvasive, nondestructive imaging of FNA biopsy specimens. In the future, it could be performed in the endoscopy suite to improve detection of satisfactory specimens and obviate the need for rapid on-site evaluation.