Advantage of EUS Trucut biopsy combined with fine-needle aspiration without immediate on-site cytopathologic examination.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasonographically guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is a safe and accurate method for obtaining diagnostic material from lesions within and immediately adjacent to the upper GI tract.

Objective: To determine whether EUS Trucut biopsy (EUS-TCB) (Quickcore, Wilson-Cook, Winstom Salem, NC) can increase the accuracy of EUS-guided tissue sampling when combined with FNA when no cytopathologist is present.

Design: Retrospective case review.

Setting: University-based referral practice.

Patients: All patients who had lesions that were accessible through the esophagus or stomach and that were greater than 20 mm and amenable to Trucut biopsy were included.

Interventions: A total of 41 patients underwent both EUS-FNA and TCB with a separate pathologist evaluating each specimen.

Main Outcome Measurements: The diagnostic performance of FNA, TCB, and its combination were compared.

Results: The overall accuracy in our series was as follows: FNA, 76%; TCB, 76% (P not significant); and combination of FNA and TCB, 95% (P = .007). In the 26 patients with malignant diagnoses, the accuracy of combination was 100% versus 77% for FNA (P = .03). The median number of passes with the FNA and TCB was 4.4 (range 2-8) and 2.8 (range 2-5), respectively. One patient in the series had fever and chest pain after EUS biopsy.

Limitations: Retrospective study.

Conclusion: In our series EUS-TCB accuracy was equal to FNA when no on-site cytopathologist is present. TCB was helpful in the diagnosis of pancreatic masses, gastric submucosal lesions, lymphoma, and necrotic tumors. A 100% accuracy of FNA + TCB was seen in patients with malignant diseases and in patients who had failed or been refused biopsy by other modalities in the past. More data are needed before the exact role of TCB in the absence of on-site cytopathology can be accurately defined.