title: The diagnostic value of EUS in pancreatic cystic neoplasms compared with CT and MRI.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pancreatic cystic neoplasms (PCNs) are being increasingly identified. Recent reports have described the utility of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in the characterization of PCNs. This study presents the diagnostic value of EUS in PCNs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 108 patients (78 women and 30 men; average age, 50 years) who were confirmed pathologically to have PCNs were analyzed retrospectively. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of 108 patients and compared the diagnostic performance of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and EUS with or without fine-needle aspiration (FNA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  EUS with or without FNA significantly increased the accuracy for diagnosing PCNs compared with CT (P = 0.002) and MRI (P = 0.006). According to the tumor size, the further analysis of these impacts was provided. EUS was superior to CT in the characterization of PCNs in small (< 3 cm) lesions (P = 0.003), similarly superior to MRI in large (>3 cm) lesions (P = 0.030). Furthermore, EUS is valuable for precisely characterizing internal structures, for example, septa (P = 0.004, compared with CT; P = 0.033, compared with MRI) and mural nodules (P = 0.028, compared with CT).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our study, EUS with or without FNA is the ideal tool for providing detailed imaging of PCNs and performed better than MRI and CT.
authors.forename: Xuejia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zou