Published online Sep 15, 2016. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v8.i9.656
Peer-review started: August 21, 2015
First decision: October 21, 2015
Revised: November 29, 2015
Accepted: July 28, 2016
Article in press: August 1, 2016
Published online: September 15, 2016
Processing time: 388 Days and 23.2 Hours
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death and has the lowest survival rate of any solid cancer. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA) is currently capable of providing a cytopathological diagnosis of pancreatic malignancies with a higher diagnostic power, with a sensitivity and specificity of 85%-89% and 98%-99%, compared to pancreatic juice cytology (PJC), whose sensitivity and specificity are only 33.3%-93% and 83.3%-100%. However, EUS-FNA is not effective in the cases of carcinoma in situ and minimally invasive carcinoma because both are undetectable by endoscopic ultrasonography, although PJC is able to detect them. As for the frequency of complications such as post endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis, EUS-FNA is safer than PJC. To diagnose pancreatic cancer appropriately, it is necessary for us to master both procedures so that we can select the best methods of sampling tissues while considering the patient’s safety and condition.
Core tip: In the era of cyto-pathological diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA) and pancreatic juice cytology (PJC) represent the most promising procedures for diagnosing pancreatic malignancies. However, there haven’t been any reports that compared the utilities and faults of these procedures. In this review we have highlighted the current role of EUS-FNA and PJC in the diagnosis process for pancreatic malignancies.