Role of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in the management of chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has increased over the past few decades. Also, the management of patients with IBD is associated with a relevant use of healthcare resources, and requires a multidisciplinary approach, with patients being cared for in monographic units. The umbrella term IBD includes ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD).

[Ultrasound-guided biopsy of the pancreas: a multicenter study].

Objective: Members of "Asociación de Ecografía Digestiva" decided to carry out a multicenter retrospective study on fine-needle aspiration biopsy for pancreatic space-occupying lesions under ultrasonographic guidance and via the percutaneous route in order to assess this technique s performance versus endoscopic ultrasound-guided biopsy.

Subjects: 10 hospitals for a total of 222 patients with suspiciously malignant, 8-120-mm pancreatic lesions were included in the study.

Results: The analysis of results shows a sensitivity of 89%, a specificity of 98%, a positive predictive value of 99%, and a negative predictive value of 74%, for an overall diagnostic accuracy of 91%.