Is endoscopic ultrasonography superior to multidetector CT for assessing pancreatic cancer?
John P Neoptolemos
Correspondence Division of Surgery and Oncology, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Daulby Street, Liverpool L69 3GA, UK
Email j.p.neoptolemos@liv.ac.uk
This article has no abstract so we have provided the first paragraph of the full text.
The diagnosis and staging of pancreatic cancer remains a difficult process, often requiring multiple tests and weeks of delay before a definitive treatment plan can be proposed. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is one of a number of technologies that has undergone major development and is now being realistically evaluated. An analysis of the videotapes of EUS was compared with the results of other imaging modalities, including CT, in 184 inpatients with suspected pancreatic cancer.1 The sensitivity and specificity were 93% and 94% for EUS and 91% and 78% for CT respectively.1 Both modalities were less effective at differentiating between cancer and chronic pancreatitis (sensitivity and specificity were 86% and 87% for EUS and 81% and 83% for CT respectively).1 Using a similar approach to assess resectability (diagnosis of venous invasion) in 75 patients with cancer of the head of the pancreas the overall sensitivity and specificity rates for EUS were 43% and 91%, respectively.2
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