Liquid-based cytology for the diagnosis of solid pancreatic tumors with endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration: can we dismiss conventional smear?

Abstract

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) has become crucial for the management of pancreatic tumors¹. Liquid-based cytology (LBC) has proven to be effective for the cytopathological characterization of several malignancies; however, its value in the approach of pancreatic neoplasms is not fully established yet^2-4.

With great interest, we carefully read the retrospective study conducted by Hashimoto and colleagues, which reported higher sensitivity and accuracy rates with LBC for diagnosing pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) when compared to conventional smear (CS)⁵.

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