Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) can fail in 3-10% of the cases even in experienced hands. Although percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) and surgery are the traditional alternatives, there are morbidity and mortality associated with both. In this paper, we have discussed the efficacy and safety of endoscopic-ultrasound-guided cholangiopancreatography (EUS-CP) in ...

During the last 15 years, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has become an important imaging procedure for diagnosis and management of pancreatic diseases. The clinical interest of EUS is now enhanced by interventional procedures. Noteworthy, fine-needle aspiration biopsy is one of the most important contributions of EUS, in particular for the investigation of patients with pancreatic cancer and cysti...

Sir, Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is widely applied in gastric lymphomas: it helps to distinguish lymphoma from carcinoma,1 to detect the degree of loco-regional involvement,1,2 to monitor response to radio-chemotherapy3,4 and to identify a recurrences4 early during follow-up evaluation. EUS could give the same informations when applied to the study of rectal lymphoma. Nevertheless, only fe...

Endoscopic dilation of a strictured hepaticojejunostomy can be performed through an access or afferent loop using a balloon enteroscope or a pediatric colonoscope; however, these canbe cumbersomeprocedures. Alternatively, a percutaneous approach may be utilized, but is associated with significant morbidity because of the requirement for external drainage catheters. Recently, endoscopic ultrasou...

Background and study aims  Significant heterogeneity in geographic distribution regarding the prevalence of mediastinal lymph nodes (MLN) has been documented in autopsy and computed tomography (CT) studies. Awareness of the local prevalence and characteristics of lymph nodes will be relevant when performing endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) for staging of malignant neoplasias. The aims of this s...

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) was first reported in 1991 and 1992 for gastric submucosal tumor and pancreas cancer. Subsequently, the indications have expanded to mediastinal lesions, liver, spleen, adrenal gland, ascites, pleural effusion, intra-abdominal lymph nodes. We report our experience of EUS-FNA and the number of cases required during the learning curve....

I have read with great interest the article by García-Cano (1) and the Editorial of López Roses (2) on endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) during pregnancy. These manuscripts show the experience of 6 national hospitals over a period of 10 years (1), and a critical review of existing evidence on the subject and the measures that may be used to minimize the risk of damage to the...

A 48-year-old Portuguese woman was admitted at the emergency department for severe upper abdominal pain radiating to the back, without any sign of peritonitis. There was no history of drugs or ethanol abuse, pregnancy test was negative and she had not traveled to any other country in the last 5 years. Abdominal CT scan and laboratory tests were completely normal including blood counts. She was ...

BACKGROUND The knowledge of EUS use in children is limited. OBJECTIVE We investigated the indications, feasibility, safety, and clinical utility of EUS in the management of pediatric GI, pancreatobiliary, and mediastinal diseases. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Two tertiary referral university hospitals. PATIENTS Consecutive children age younger than 18 years referred over a 7-year...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD) can be performed entirely transgastrically (hepatogastrostomy/EUS-HG) or transduodenally (choledochoduodenostomy/EUS-CDS). It is unknown how both techniques compare. The aims of this study were to compare efficacy and safety of both techniques and identify predictors of adverse events. PATIENTS AND METHODS Consec...