EUS-guided Trucut needle biopsies as first-line diagnostic method for patients with intestinal or extraintestinal mass lesions.

INTRODUCTION: Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is a well-established technique to obtain cytological specimens, but it does not permit the extraction of histological tissue-core samples, which, if available, may increase the yield and accuracy of the histopathological diagnosis. This prospective study was designed to assess the yield and diagnostic accuracy of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided Trucut needle biopsy (TNB) as first-line diagnostic method for suspected malignant lesions identified by upper gastrointestinal EUS.

METHODS: In a prospective case series, 24 consecutive patients (14 women; median age, 68 (range, 38-84) years) with suspected malignancy underwent EUS-TNB with a 19-gauge needle. EUS was performed with a linear scanning echo endoscope. When the EUS-TNB device did not collect adequate samples, subsequent EUS-FNA was performed. The presence or absence of malignancy was confirmed by postoperative histopathology or diagnostic imaging follow-up for at least 9 months.

RESULTS: Adequate tissue specimens were obtained in 20 of 24 (83%) patients by TNB. An accurate diagnosis was achieved in 19 of 20 (95%) patients in whom TNB was successful with a sensitivity and specificity of 93% and 100%, respectively. In 11 patients malignant disease was found, whereas 8 patients showed benign lesions on TNB-obtained histopathology. Thirteen patients underwent additional EUS-FNA. The diagnosis by TNB was confirmed in seven of nine (78%) patients with additional FNA. In three of four patients with inadequate TNB, the diagnosis was established by FNA. The overall accuracy of EUS-TNB was 79% (19/24) for all patients and 92% (22/24) with subsequent FNA. The positive and negative predictive values for the diagnosis of a malignant lesion by EUS-TNB were 57.9% and 88.9%, respectively. Neither method had any procedure-related complications.

CONCLUSIONS: EUS-guided TNB is a safe and accurate technique to obtain core specimen for histopathologic diagnosis in patients with suspected malignancies on upper gastrointestinal EUS. FNA can serve as rescue technique and should be performed if TNB fails to obtain adequate tissue samples.