title: The utility of endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration in the diagnosis of infectious diseases-report of three cases.
abstract: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is a fast and minimally invasive methodology with a crucial impact on patients' management. It has an important and established role in the diagnosis and staging of mediastinal and abdominal malignancies, but little is discussed in the literature on the usefulness of this technique in the diagnosis of infectious diseases. In the current report, we present three different cases where EUS was essential for reaching the diagnosis of tuberculosis and paracoccidiodomicosis in cases otherwise seen as malignant. In conclusion, EUS was successful not only in obtaining enough cells for morphological analysis, but also for the production of cell blocks and assessment of the presence of the microorganisms by special stains. EUS allied to fine needle biopsy was an important tool in determining diagnoses of enlarged lymph nodes, revealing the diagnosis of infectious diseases in cases otherwise seen as malignant. The wide use of this methodology in cases such as those reported here cannot only rule out malignancy, but also aid critically ill patients by installing early proper therapy without the need for aggressive interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Santa Casa Medical School, Rua Doutor Cesário Mota Junior 112, 01221-020 São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mauro Ajaj
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Saieg
authors.affiliation: Santa Casa Medical School, Rua Doutor Cesário Mota Junior 112, 01221-020 São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yazawa
authors.affiliation: Santa Casa Medical School, Rua Doutor Cesário Mota Junior 112, 01221-020 São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horta
authors.affiliation: Department of Endoscopy, Santa Casa Medical School, Rua Doutor Cesário Mota Junior 112, 01221-020 São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lucio G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Rossini
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Santa Casa Medical School, Rua Doutor Cesário Mota Junior 112, 01221-020 São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mabel Tatty Medeiros
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Fracassi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Santa Casa Medical School, Rua Doutor Cesário Mota Junior 112, 01221-020 São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fabíola
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Del Carlo Bernardi