Diagnostic work-up of bile duct strictures: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Guideline.

1: ESGE recommends the combination of endoscopic ultrasound-guided tissue acquisition (EUS-TA) and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)-based tissue acquisition as the preferred diagnostic approach for tissue acquisition in patients with jaundice and distal extrahepatic biliary stricture in the absence of a pancreatic mass. 2: ESGE suggests that brushing cytology should be completed along with fluoroscopy-guided biopsies, wherever technically feasible, in patients with perihilar biliary strictures. 3: ESGE suggests EUS-TA for perihilar strictures when ERCP-based modalities yield insufficient results, provided that curative resection is not feasible and/or when cross-sectional imaging has shown accessible extraluminal disease.

EUS-Guided Radiofrequency Ablation Therapy for Pancreatic Neoplasia.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) under endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guidance has been developed and utilized over the last decade to provide the loco-regional treatment of solid and cystic pancreatic neoplastic lesions. The advantage of this approach relies on the close proximity of the EUS transducer to the target pancreatic lesion, which, coupled with the development of specifically designed RFA ablation devices, has made the procedure minimally invasive, with a clear reduction in adverse events as compared to the high morbidity of the surgical approach. EUS-RFA has been applied so far to pancreatic functional and non-functional neuroendocrine neoplasms, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma or metastases to the pancreas, and pancreatic neoplastic cysts.

Controversies in Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Biliary Drainage.

In this 14th document in a series of papers entitled "" we discuss various aspects of EUS-guided biliary drainage that are debated in the literature and in practice. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography is still the reference technique for therapeutic biliary access, but EUS-guided techniques for biliary access and drainage have developed into safe and highly effective alternative options. However, EUS-guided biliary drainage techniques are technically demanding procedures for which few training models are currently available.

Acute cholecystitis management in high-risk, critically ill, and unfit-for-surgery patients: the Italian Society of Emergency Surgery and Trauma (SICUT) guidelines.

Dealing with acute cholecystitis in high-risk, critically ill, and unfit-for-surgery patients is frequent during daily practice and requires complex management. Several procedures exist to postpone and/or prevent surgical intervention in those patients who temporarily or definitively cannot undergo surgery. After a systematic review of the literature, an expert panel from the Italian Society of Emergency Surgery and Trauma (SICUT) discussed the different issues and statements in subsequent rounds.

Endoscopic Ultrasound Biliary Drainage in Pancreatic Cancer.

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided biliary drainage (BD) is an accepted salvage procedure in patients with distal malignant biliary obstruction (DMBO) when endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is unsuccessful. The potential advantages of EUS-BD include gastric or duodenal biliary access, utilization of novel biliary stents and stent placement away from the area of stenosis, resulting in longer stent patency. These features make EUS-BD very appealing as a primary procedure for biliary drainage.

Mishaps with EUS-guided lumen-apposing metal stents in therapeutic pancreatic EUS: Management and prevention.

EUS-guided interventions have become widely accepted therapeutic management options for drainage of peripancreatic fluid collections. Apart from endosonographic skills, EUS interventions require knowledge of the endoscopic stenting techniques and familiarity with the available stents and deployment systems. Although generally safe and effective, technical failure of correct stent positioning or serious adverse events can occur, even in experts' hands.

The Role of Luminal Apposing Metal Stents on the Treatment of Malignant and Benign Gastric Outlet Obstruction.

Gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) is a clinical syndrome traditionally managed by surgical gastrojejunostomy or enteral stenting. The surgical approach is burdened with a high rate of adverse events (AEs), while enteral stenting has a limited long-term clinical effectiveness, with the need for repeat procedures. The availability of lumen-apposing metal stents (LAMSs) has resulted a shift in the treatment paradigm of GOO.

The Role of Lumen Apposing Metal Stents in the Palliation of Distal Malignant Biliary Distal Obstruction.

Malignant biliary obstruction (DMBO) has been traditionally managed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). In the case of ERC failure, percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PT-BD) has been widely utilized as a salvage procedure. However, over the last decade, endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) has gained increasing popularity, especially after the advent of electrocautery-enhanced lumen apposing metal stent devices (EC-LAMSs) which enable a one-step procedure, granting prevention of biliary leakage and minimizing occurrence of adverse events (AEs).

Endoscopic ultrasound in the management of acute cholecystitis: Practical review.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage (EUS-GBD) has emerged over the last years as an alternative procedure to percutaneous drainage (PT)-GBD in patients with acute cholecystitis (AC) at high surgical risk. This process has been driven by the advent of lumen-apposing metal stents (LAMS) with electrocautery-enhanced capability, which has rendered the drainage procedure easier to accomplish and safer. Studies and meta-analyses have proven the superiority of EUS-GBD over PT-GBD in high-surgical-risk patients with AC.

EUS-guided fine needle biopsy is able to provide diagnosis in rare osteoclast-like giant cells undifferentiated carcinoma of the pancreas: report of two cases.

Undifferentiated carcinoma of the pancreas with osteoclast-like giant cells (UC-OGC) is a rare subtype of pancreatic cancer, accounting for less than 1% of all pancreatic tumors. Preoperative diagnosis is cumbersome as cross-sectional imaging is often not capable to distinguish between UC-OGC and other pancreatic tumors such as pancreatic adenocarcinoma, mucinous carcinoma or neuroendocrine tumors and specific tumor markers seem to be lacking. Endoscopic ultrasound r `m(EUS) with tissue acquisition via fine-needle aspiration (FNA) or biopsy (FNB) with microscopic HE staining and immunohistochemistry allows for an accurate diagnosis, thus influencing further treatment.

EUS-guided intra-tumoral therapies.

EUS-guided treatments for focal tumor lesions has been developed since 20 years using at onset of the technique mainly local and guided alcohol injection [1-4]. Pancreatic tumors are the most assessed targeted lesions for EUS treatment because of their accessibility and because EUS management could be a safe alternative to surgery. More and more pancreatic tumors are discovered mainly fortuitously due to the advances in conventional imaging (abdominal ultrasound, CT, MRI) resulting in the question of surgical management of an asymptomatic pancreatic lesion ("incidentaloma") [5-8].

Endoscopic ultrasound in the management of acute cholecystitis.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided gallbladder drainage (EUS-GBD) is increasingly utilised for patients with acute cholecystitis who are high-risk candidates for surgery. The technique to perform EUS-GBD has evolved and matured over the last two decades since EUS-GBD was first described in 2007 using a nasobiliary catheter. Compared to percutaneous gallbladder drainage (PT-GBD), EUS-GBD offers benefits of shorter hospitalisation stay and lesser procedural pain and need for reintervention.

Small nonfunctional pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms: Time for a step-up treatment approach?

Surgery has been regarded as the only curative treatment for patients with small nonfunctional pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (NF-PNENs) less than 2 cm. Due to the significant adverse event rates of surgery, the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society issued guidelines favoring surveillance for those patients lacking criteria suggestive of an aggressive disease. Despite the above recommendations, a significant proportion of small NF-PNEN patients still undergo surgery.

How to perform EUS-guided biliary drainage.

EUS-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) has recently gained widespread acceptance as a minimally invasive alternative method for biliary drainage. Even in experienced endoscopy centers, ERCP may fail due to inaccessibility of the papillary region, altered anatomy (particularly postsurgical alterations), papillary obstruction, or neoplastic gastric outlet obstruction. Biliary cannulation fails at first attempt in 5%-10% of cases even in the absence of these factors.

Wet-suction versus slow-pull technique for endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy: a multicenter, randomized, crossover trial.

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND : It is unknown whether there is an advantage to using the wet-suction or slow-pull technique during endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) with new-generation needles. We aimed to compare the performance of each technique in EUS-FNB.

Methods: This was a multicenter, randomized, single-blind, crossover trial including patients with solid lesions of ≥ 1 cm.

Advances in the Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cystic Lesions.

Pancreatic cystic lesions (PCLs) are a heterogenous group of lesions ranging from benign to malignant. There has been an increase in PCLs prevalence in recent years, mostly due to advances in imaging techniques, increased awareness of their existence and population aging. Reliable discrimination between neoplastic and non-neoplastic cystic lesions is paramount to ensuring adequate treatment and follow-up.

Controversies in EUS-guided treatment of walled-off necrosis.

This review gives an overview of different techniques in the treatment of post-acute complications of acute pancreatitis. The endoscopic treatment of those complications is currently standard of care. EUS opened up the broad implementation of internal drainage methods to make them safe and effective.

Therapeutic endoscopic ultrasound: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Technical Review.

1:  ESGE recommends a prolonged course of a prophylactic broad-spectrum antibiotic in patients with ascites who are undergoing therapeutic endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) procedures.Strong recommendation, low quality evidence. 2:  ESGE recommends placement of partially or fully covered self-expandable metal stents during EUS-guided hepaticogastrostomy for biliary drainage in malignant disease.

Therapeutic endoscopic ultrasound: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Guideline.

1: ESGE recommends the use of endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) over percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) after failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in malignant distal biliary obstruction when local expertise is available.Strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence. 2: ESGE suggests EUS-BD with hepaticogastrostomy only for malignant inoperable hilar biliary obstruction with a dilated left hepatic duct when inadequately drained by ERCP and/or PTBD in high volume expert centers.