Role of Endoscopic Ultrasound in Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) can help diagnose diseases with high accuracy because it overcomes the limitations of gastrointestinal gas and abdominal fat. The emergence of curved linear-array echoendoscopy has significantly promoted the applications of the technique to new levels. The advancement has appeared from EUS imaging to EUS-guided fine needle aspiration, drainage and injection. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging present certain limitations for diagnosing pancreatic tumors due to the specificity of the location of such growths. In addition, traditional chemotherapy does not show ideal results because pancreatic cancer (PC) exhibits hypovascular characteristics. Interventional EUS can overcome these limitations and has potential to become the mainstream method of PC local treatment in the future. This paper reviews the use of interventional EUS in the treatment of PC based on previous studies.