Abstract
Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is useful for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatobiliary diseases. EUS plays important roles particularly in the detection of small lesions, differential diagnosis, and tumor staging. A new endoscopic ultrasound processor has recently been developed. It improves fundamental imaging and enables three new functions, namely, tissue harmonic, elastography, and contrast harmonic endoscopic ultrasonography (CH-EUS). The tissue harmonic function provides high-quality images of cystic and solid lesions in the pancreas. Elastography is useful in differentiating between benign and malignant lesions. CH-EUS is beneficial for the differential diagnosis of pancreatic tumors. However, many aspects regarding the usefulness of these three functions in the diagnosis of pancreatobiliary diseases remain unknown. Additional studies are warranted to clarify the new functions in the EUS apparatus in more detail.
