Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy for diagnosis of gastric linitis plastica with negative malignant endoscopy biopsies

The value of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) biopsy in the gastric linitis plastica (GLP) with negative malignant endoscopy biopsies was investigated. Forty-six patients with linitis plastica who had undergone EUS-FNA were retrospectively studied, and their clinicopathological data were examined. Among the 46 eligible patients, 38 cases were diagnosed clearly by EUS-FNA. There were 24 cases with lymph node metastasis in the 38 patients. Both the lymph nodes and gastric lesions were punctured by EUS-FNA in the 24 cases. We compared the diagnostic accuracy in different sites, and the results showed that the diagnostic accuracy in lymph nodes was significantly higher than that in gastric lesions (P<0.05). Among them, 16 patients underwent surgical resection, and the accuracy of the pathological diagnosis by EUS-FNA was 87.5% (14/16). The preoperative diagnostic accuracy of T and N staging by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) were both 75%. Neither severe hemorrhage nor perforation occurred in any patient. In conclusion, EUS-FNA is a safe and effective procedure for the diagnosis of indefinite linitis plastica, and puncturing metastatic lymph nodes can improve the diagnostic accuracy.