Utility of forward-view endoscopic ultrasound in fine-needle aspiration in patients with a surgically altered upper gastrointestinal anatomy

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) using oblique-view EUS in patients with a surgically altered anatomy (SAA) of the upper gastrointestinal tract is limited because of difficult scope insertion due to the disturbed anatomy. This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of forward-view (FV)-EUS in performing FNA in patients with a SAA. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated 32 patients with a SAA of the upper gastrointestinal tract who visited Aichi Cancer Center Hospital in Nagoya, Japan, between January 2014 and December 2020. We performed-upper gastrointestinal EUS-FNA using FV-EUS combined with fluoroscopic imaging to confirm tumor recurrence or to make a decision before chemotherapy or after a failure of diagnosis by radiology. RESULTS: We successfully performed EUS-FNA in all studied patients (100% technical success), with the specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy of 100%, 87.5%, and 87.8%, respectively, with no complications. CONCLUSIONS: EUS-FNA using FV-EUS combined with fluoroscopic imaging is an effective and safe technique for tissue acquisition in patients with a SAA.