L'ecoendoscopia nella diagnosi delle lesioni cistiche del pancreas

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) allows high resolution imaging of the pancreas. Cystic lesions of the pancreas are easily seen on EUS. EUS is a very useful technique for evaluating morphological features of a cystic lesion in the pancreas. These features include thick wall type, tumor protruding type, thick septal type, microcystic type, thin septal type and simple type. Malignant cystic lesions may present as a hypoechoic cystic/solid mass or as a complex cyst and are frequently associated with a dilated main pancreatic duct. EUS guided FNA of cystic pancreatic lesions can play an important role in the differential diagnosis of these lesions and deciding about the need for surgery by evaluating cytology and tumor markers in cyst fluid.