Clinical impact of High-Definition Endoscopic Ultrasonography (EUS) in a district hospital

Objectives: Evaluation of the impact of EUS in clinical practice. Methods: All exploration performed during the first 18 months of implementation of the technique were analyzed. Agreement was assessed by radiographic techniques or surgical specimens in those cases allowed. Results: 277 exploration were performed. There have been only 2 complications and they were related to sedation in both cases. The demand increased gradually, reaching 70 scans per 100,000 inhabitants. Main indications were bile (34.3%) and pancreatic processes. No pathology was found in 10% of cases; 29 cases had choledocholithiasis (93% confirmed and treated endoscopically). Chronic pancreatitis was diagnosed in 19 cases (only 15.78% of the cases were diagnosed by computed tomography). 32 patients with idiopathic acute pancreatitis were evaluated: 20 of them had evidence of microlithiasis (80% cholecystectomized and asymptomatic after a mean follow-up of 21.5 months), two cases of choledocholithiasis, 1 with chronic pancreatitis and 9 cases remained free of filial etiology. We performed 56 punctures: 39 samples of pancreas in 33 patients (81.1% of the samples were diagnostic; adenocarcinoma and serous cystadenoma were the most common diagnoses), 13 enlarged nodes and 4 abdominal masses. Conclusions: EUS is a growing demand technique that has low risks and leads to better decision-making in a significant number of patients with different diseases. Therefore, its inclusion in routine clinical practice must be considered.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Poves,E., Pozo,D. del, Tabernero,S., Bardina,A., Martínez,P., Castillo,M. C.
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Sociedad Española de Patología Digestiva 2010
Online Access:http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1130-01082010001200004
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