Focal or diffuse "fullness" of the pancreas on CT. Usually benign, but EUS plus/minus FNA is warranted to identify malignancy.

Context: The role of EUS to evaluate subtle radiographic abnormalities of the pancreas is not well defined.

Objective: To assess the yield of EUS+/-FNA for focal or diffuse pancreatic enlargement/fullness seen on abdominal CT scan in the absence of discrete mass lesions.

Design: Retrospective database review.

Circumferential ablation of Barrett's esophagus that contains high-grade dysplasia: a U.S. Multicenter Registry.

Background: The management strategies for Barrett's esophagus (BE) that contains high-grade dysplasia (HGD) include intensive endoscopic surveillance, photodynamic therapy, thermal ablation, EMR, and esophagectomy.

Objective: To assess the safety and effectiveness of endoscopic circumferential balloon-based ablation by using radiofrequency energy for treating BE HGD.

Design: Multicenter U.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration for non-small cell lung cancer staging: A systematic review and metaanalysis.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is a minimally invasive alternative technique for mediastinal staging of non-small cell lung cancer. A metaanalysis was performed to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA for staging mediastinal lymph nodes (N2/N3 disease) in patients with lung cancer.

Methods: Relevant studies were identified using Medline (1966 to November 2005), CINAHL, and citation indexing.

Endoscopic therapy for upper-GI vascular ectasias.

Background: Upper-GI vascular ectasias, including angiodysplasia and gastric antral vascular ectasia may present with either acute or chronic bleeding. Endoscopic thermal modalities have been used to control acute bleeding and reduce transfusion requirements.

Methods: Endoscopic experience was reviewed for a 6-year period during which 32 patients requiring blood transfusions for upper-GI angiodysplasia or gastric antral vascular ectasia were evaluated.