2008 Volume 50 Issue 6 Pages 1486-1494
Endoscopic ultrasound sonography (EUS) has been reported to be useful for the diagnosis of submucosal tumors (SMT) in upper gastrointestinal tract. But the diagnosis of SMTs and the evaluation of malignancy are difficult using by EUS alone, because SMTs include various kinds of diseases and various degree of malignancy. Therefore, Immunohistochemical staining for diagnosis of SMTs are necessary by acquiring the specimens, such as gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). However, endscopic biopsy materials are not enough to make a different diagnose of SMT. EUS guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA) developed in 1992, has been a useful technique for acquiring the specimens in the wall of the digestive tract . The rate of adequate specimens of SMTs may be somewhat lower than that of adequate specimens of pancreatic mass and lymph nodes. The technical tips of acquiring specimens of SMT using by EUS-FNA include selection of the needles, puncture site of lesions, change of negative pressure, and fixation the EUS scope by cooperator.
