Simple Technique to Improve Diagnostic Yield in EUS-FNA

Endoscopic ultrasound and fine needle aspiration are useful tools for the diagnosis and staging of pancreatic cancer. One potential limitation is contamination when needle traverses the gastrointestinal tract under continuous negative pressure. Gastrointestinal tract contamination can lead to misinterpretation of FNA specimens. We propose a technique to eliminate any remaining negative pressure during EUS-FNA and therefore decrease gastrointestinal tract contamination. Our hypothesis is that briefly untwisting the syringe from the biopsy channel after a specimen is obtained eliminates any remaining negative pressure in the FNA needle and therefore reduces GI tract contamination of EUS-FNA specimens, and will lead to improved diagnostic accuracy of this important clinical technique.