Detection value of endoscopic ultrasound-guided 19G fine-needle wet-heparinized suction for pancreatic solid tumors: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Conventional endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) has some inevitable flaws in the detection of pancreatic solid tumors, such as an incomplete histological structure of the obtained pancreatic biopsy tissues and blood coagulation. Heparin can prevent blood coagulation, thus improving the structural integrity of the specimen. However, whether the combination of EUS-FNA and wet heparin can improve the detection of pancreatic solid tumors needs to be further explored. Hence, this study aimed to compare the EUS-FNA combined with wet heparin and the conventional EUS-FNA, and analyze the detection value of EUS-FNA combined with wet heparin for pancreatic solid tumors. METHODS: The clinical data of 52 patients with pancreatic solid tumors who had received EUS-FNA at the Wuhan Fourth Hospital from August 2019 to April 2021 were selected. Patients were divided into a heparin group and a conventional wet-suction group using a randomized number table. The total length of biopsy tissue strips, total length of white tissue core in pancreatic biopsy lesions [according to macroscopic on-site evaluation (MOSE)], total length of white tissue core in each biopsy tissue, erythrocyte contamination in the paraffin sections, and postoperative complications were compared between the groups. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to reflect the detection value of EUS-FNA combined with wet heparin for pancreatic solid tumors. RESULTS: The heparin group had a longer total length of biopsy tissue strips (P<0.05) and total length of white tissue core (P<0.05) than the conventional group. There was a positive correlation between the total length of white tissue core and the total length of biopsy tissue strips in both groups (conventional wet-suction group: r=0.470, P<0.05; heparin group: r=0.433, P<0.05). The heparin group had milder erythrocyte contamination in the paraffin sections (P<0.05). The total length of white tissue core in the heparin group had the highest diagnostic performance, with a Youden index of 0.819 [area under the curve (AUC) =0.944]. CONCLUSIONS: Our research shows that wet-heparinized suction improves the quality of pancreatic solid tumor tissue biopsy obtained by 19G fine-needle aspiration and is a safe and efficient aspiration method in conjunction with MOSE for tissue biopsy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2300069324.