Phase I clinical trial of allogeneic mixed lymphocyte culture (cytoimplant) delivered by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle injection in patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma

Endoscopic ultrasound-fine needle injection for oncological therapy

The minimal invasiveness and precision of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has lead to both its widespread use as a diagnostic and staging modality for gastrointestinal and pancreaticobiliary malignancies, and to its expanding role as a therapeutic modality. EUS-guided celiac plexus neurolysis is now a well-accepted modality for palliation of pain in patients with pancreatic cancer. EUS-guided ablation, brachytherapy, fiducial marker placement, and antitumor agent injection have been described as methods of performing minimally invasive oncological therapy. EUS-fine needle injection may be performed as adjunctive, alternative, or palliative treatment. This review summarizes the studies to date that have described these methods. A literature search using the PubMed/MEDLINE databases was performed. While most published studies to date are limited with disappointing outcomes, the concept of a role of EUS in oncological therapy seems promising.

Role of endoscopic ultrasound in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) with or without fine needle aspiration has become the main technique for evaluating pancreatobiliary disorders and has proved to have a higher diagnostic yield than positron emission tomography, computed tomography (CT) and transabdominal ultrasound for recognising early pancreatic tumors. As a diagnostic modality for pancreatic cancer, EUS has proved rates higher than 90%, especially for lesions less than 2-3 cm in size in which it reaches a sensitivity rate of 99% vs 55% for CT. Besides, EUS has a very high negative predictive value and thus EUS can reliably exclude pancreatic cancer. The complication rate of EUS is as low as 1.1%-3.0%. New technical developments such as elastography and the use of contrast agents have recently been applied to EUS, improving its diagnostic capability. EUS has been found to be superior to the recent multidetector CT for T staging with less risk of overstaying in comparison to both CT and magnetic resonance imaging, so that patients are not being ruled out of a potentially beneficial resection. The accuracy for N staging with EUS is 64%-82%. In unresectable cancers, EUS also plays a therapeutic role by means of treating oncological pain through celiac plexus block, biliary drainage in obstructive jaundice in patients where endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is not affordable and aiding radiotherapy and chemotherapy.