title: An electronic radial scanning echoendoscope is superior to a mechanical radial scanning echoendoscope in ultrasound image quality for gastrointestinal tract and pancreaticobiliary lesions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To objectively compare the electronic radial scanning echoendoscope (ER-ES) with the mechanical radial scanning echoendoscope (MR-ES) in the quality of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) images of gastrointestinal tract and pancreaticobiliary lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Studied were 56 patients: 20 with gastric cancer, 20 with gallbladder lesions, and 16 with intraductal papillary-mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas (IPMN). They were subjected to EUS, half of them using the ER-ES, and the other half using the MR-ES. EUS images thus obtained were evaluated concerning four items in patients with gastric cancer and those with gallbladder lesions, and three items in patients with IPMN. Six endosonographers blindly assessed two EUS images per patient on a visual analogue scale. In each of the three groups of patients, the evaluators' median scores for the ER-ES and MR-ES for each item were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median scores for the ER-ES were significantly higher than those for the MR-ES in all items in patients with gastric cancer and those with IPMN, and in one item in patients with gallbladder lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ER-ES is certainly superior to the MR-ES in the quality of EUS images of gastrointestinal tract and pancreaticobiliary lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endoscopy, Fukushima Medical University Hospital, Fukushima, Japan. takuto@fmu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takuto
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hikichi
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Irisawa
authors.forename: Tadayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Goro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shibukawa
authors.forename: Takeru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakatsuki
authors.forename: Hidemichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: Yuta
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Tsunehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Rei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Ko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hiromasa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohira
authors.forename: Katsutoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Obara
mesh_terms: D019160:Endosonography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005705:Gallbladder Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*