Diagnosis of intra-abdominal and mediastinal sarcoidosis with EUS-guided FNA.

Background: In the presence of a compatible clinical picture, the diagnosis of sarcoidosis requires pathologic confirmation of noncaseating epithelioid granuloma in affected tissues. The standard procedure of choice for most patients is a bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsy (TBB), which has a diagnostic yield of 40% to 90%. The lowest yield with TBB is in cases that present with predominant mediastinal or intra-abdominal lymphadenopathy (LN) and minimal parenchymal lung involvement.

Treatment of Epiphrenic and Mid-esophageal Diverticula.

Thoracic esophageal diverticula are uncommon. They account for less than 30% of esophageal diverticula. The majority of patients are asymptomatic or have minimal symptoms.

Diagnosis of cystic neoplasms with endoscopic ultrasound.

From the data that are currently available, it appears that EUS can help to reliably distinguish between the majority of benign and neoplastic cystic lesions. In equivocal cases, or cases where a high suspicion for malignancy exists, the use of EUS-guided FNA for obtaining cytology and cystic fluid for analysis of various tumor markers, gives the best diagnostic yield. Occasionally, despite a complete evaluation of a cystic mass, the cyst type may not be determined.

EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration of the pancreas: evaluation of pancreatitis as a complication.

Background: EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration is rapidly becoming the procedure of choice for the diagnostic evaluation of pancreatic masses. Acute pancreatitis has been reported after EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration of the pancreas. This study evaluated the effect of EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration on the pancreas by serial measurement of amylase and lipase levels and determining the frequency of acute pancreatitis after EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration of pancreatic masses.