Maruta A, Iwashita T, Yoshida K, et al. - According to findings, it is safe to perform endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) and this procedure demonstrates a high diagnostic ability for the preoperative examination of pancreatic cancer. It was regarded as the first option without the impact of surgical curability, postoperative recurrence, peritoneal dissemination and prognosis.

• A retrospective analysis of 293 patients who had surgical resection for pancreatic cancer.

• EUS-FNA had significantly higher diagnostic sensitivity (94.4%) than endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) (45.5%).

• Significantly higher adverse event rate was noted with ERCP (10.2%) vs EUS-FNA (1.3%).

• Prognostic study revealed a recurrence rate of 54.3% and 57.4% in the FNA and non-FNA groups, respectively, among patients with curative R0 or R1.

• Occurrence of peritoneal dissemination was seen in 34.3% and 21.9% in the FNA and non-FNA groups, respectively, neither of which demonstrated a significant difference.

• In the FNA and non-FNA groups, median survival times were 955 days and 799 days, respectively, and no significant difference was evident between the two groups.