A prospective comparison of EUS-guided FNA using 25-gauge and 22-gauge needles.
OBJECTIVE
There are limited data on the differences in diagnostic yield between 25-gauge and 22-gauge EUS-FNA needles. This prospective study compared the difference in diagnostic yield between a 22-gauge and a 25-gauge needle when performing EUS-FNA.


METHODS
Forty-three patients with intraluminal or extraluminal mass lesions and/or lymphadenopathy were enrolled prospectively. EUS-FNA was performed for each mass lesion using both 25- and 22-gauge needles. The differences in accuracy rate, scoring of needle visibility, ease of puncture and quantity of obtained specimen were evaluated.


RESULTS
The overall accuracy of 22- and 25-gauge needle was similar at 81% and 76% respectively (N.S). Likewise the visibility scores of both needles were also similar. Overall the quantity of specimen obtained higher with the 22-gauge needle (score: 1.64 vs. P < .001). However the 25-gauge needle was significantly superior to the 22-gauge needle in terms of ease of puncture (score: 1.9 vs. 1.29, P < .001) and in the quantity of specimen in the context of pancreatic mass EUS-FNA (score: 1.8 vs. 1.58, P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
The 22-gauge and 25-gauge needles have similar overall diagnostic yield. The 25-gauge needle appeared superior in the subset of patients with hard lesions and pancreatic masses.
Imazu
Hiroo
H
Department of Endoscopy, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan. himazu21@aol.com
Uchiyama
Yujiro
Y
Kakutani
Hiroshi
H
Ikeda
Kei-Ichi
K
Sumiyama
Kazuki
K
Kaise
Mitsuru
M
Omar
Salem
S
Ang
Tiing Leong
TL
Tajiri
Hisao
H