![]() Every endosonographer is highly skilled and has performed more than 500 procedures (150-200 procedures annually). Thus, only those patients for whom EUS was chosen as the best procedure for further diagnostic work-up after the re-evaluation of the CT were eligible for the study.ĮUS could be performed by any member of the team of surgeons who normally performed this procedure. CT scans had been performed either at local hospitals or at our own department of radiology but before deciding on an EUS, each patient had their CT re-evaluated at a multidisciplinary team conference including radiologists with a special interest in CT and gastro-intestinal diseases and the surgeons who would later perform the EUS, if decided. An incidental finding was defined as a potentially pathological condition that had no relation to the reason for performing the CT for example the finding of a 2-cm mass lesion in the head of the pancreas in a patient for whom the indication for CT was constipation was considered an incidental finding (Figure 1). Patients referred to our department for EUS between September 2012 and September 2013 because of an incidental finding in the pancreas/distal bile duct noted at a CT were prospectively enrolled in the study. The aim of the present study was to describe patients who underwent EUS because of an incidental finding in the pancreas/biliary tract noted at an abdominal CT. Due to its relative invasiveness, EUS is rarely used as the initial procedure in these patients, but it is more often used after more widely available procedures like CT or gastroscopy have been performed. However, in otherĬases they are misinterpretations of the normal anatomy and further diagnostic work-up in these last cases is not needed and might be harmful to the patient.Įndoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is an established procedure in the diagnostic work-up of patients suspected of disease of the upper gastrointestinal tract and pancreatic diseases. In some cases, these incidental findings represent real pathological conditions that need to be dealt with by different procedures such as surgical resection or additional follow-up. ![]() It is well known that incidental findings are seen at CT. It is often performed for the primary work-up in patients with abdominal complaints, but it is also used for staging of malignant diseases inside and outside the gastrointestinal tract or for follow-up on previously treated conditions. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) is a widely used procedure.
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