IMPROVEMENT OF DIAGNOSTIC ABILITY OF ENDOSCOPIC ULTRASOUND-GUIDED FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION USING THE LIQUID-BASED CYTOLOGY METHOD

Abstract

Liquid-based cytology (LBC) has been introduced mainly for cervical cytology, and is also widely used for the cytology of liquid specimens such as urine and ascites and punctured specimens such as breast and thyroid tumors. Recently, a number of papers on the usefulness of LBC for endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) specimens of pancreatic lesions have been reported. In this article, we review the usefulness of LBC for EUS-FNA specimens and describe the practical procedure.