title: Endoscopic ultrasound elastography for the pancreas in Korea: a preliminary single center study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Endoscopic ultrasound elastography (EUS-EG) has been widely used for the evaluation of pancreatic cancer in the Western world. To date, there is very little experience with EUS-EG in Korea. We described the results of comparison between normal pancreas and pancreatic cancer in Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study was performed at a tertiary hospital on 35 subjects comprising 20 with normal pancreas (control group) and 15 with pancreatic cancer (disease group). We compared the EUS-EG performance of the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pancreas in the control group showed a mean elasticity value of 0.53% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.45 to 0.61). The elasticity value was higher than that previously reported from Western country (0.47%; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.57). In the disease group, the mean elasticity value of pancreatic lesions was 0.02% (95% CI, 0.01 to 0.02). The mean elasticity value of the disease group was significantly lower than that of the control group (p<0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EUS-EG could be a highly sensitive diagnostic modality for pancreatic cancer in Korea with little EUS-EG experience. We also provided the reference range of elasticity value of normal pancreas, which might be valuable in the interpretation of pancreatic elasticity data for Korean adults.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Digestive Research, Soonchunhyang University Hospital, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Tae Hee
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Young Deok
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Sang-Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Joo Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jae Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Soung Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Hyun Jong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jong Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Moon
keywords: Elasticity imaging techniques; Endosonography; Pancreas