title: Clinical analysis for the application of endoscopic ultrasonography in the diagnosis of patients with a retroperitoneal space-occupying lesion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report our experience and to evaluate the application of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in the qualitative diagnosis of retroperitoneal space-occupying lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six patients with retroperitoneal space-occupying lesions confirmed by CT or MRI were studied. All the patients underwent endoscopic ultrasonography guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) at the Department of Gastroenterology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Hubei Province, China from August 2009 to August 2011. Different parameters were evaluated, such as complications of EUS-FNA, the ratio of definite pathological diagnosis, and the pathologic types of all the specimens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 26 patients, 24 had definite pathological diagnosis; the ratio of histodiagnosis was 92.3%. There were no complications such as hemorrhage, infection, or injury to the abdominal viscera in the process of EUS-FNA. Eight patients had benign tumors, with a ratio of 33.3%, and 16 patients had malignant tumors, with a ratio of 66.7%. Two patients had no definite pathological diagnosis because of the shortness of tissue sample. Eight patients did not undergo operation due to the diagnosis of benign tumors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The EUS-FNA has the advantage of lower complications, and higher diagnostic ratio, which is valuable in the qualitative diagnosis of retroperitoneal space-occupying lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Hubei Province, China.
authors.forename: Yue-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiang-Wu
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: De-Jie
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D019160:Endosonography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult