Results from a multicenter European study1 suggest that a new, large-core biopsy needle designed for use with an endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) scope may help to overcome limitations of current EUS methods for biopsies of lesions in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and surrounding tissue. The study, presented in abstract form at the 2011 Digestive Disease Week conference last week, indicated that Cook Medical’s 19-gauge EchoTip® ProCore™ High Definition Ultrasound Biopsy Needle can aid pathologists in diagnosing multiple types of cancers in a variety of target tissues with a high degree of accuracy.
“…Performing an EUS-guided biopsy with the new histology needle was feasible and safe for histopathology diagnosis of intraintestinal and extraintestinal mass lesions in this consecutive series of patients,” said the study in its conclusion. “It offers the possibility of obtaining a core sample for histological evaluation in the majority of cases, with an overall diagnostic accuracy of over 85 percent.”