Z Gastroenterol 2011; 49 - P073
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1285345

A novel flexible cryoprobe for EUS-guided pancreatic biopsies. First results of a blinded, controlled animal study

D von Renteln 1, A Quaas 2, U Denzer 1, T Rösch 1, M Szyrach 3, M Enderle 3, C Crostack 1, S Haas 4, C Trepte 4, D Reutter 4, G Schachschal 1
  • 1Universitätsklinikum Hamburg Eppendorf, Interdisziplinäre Endoskopie, Hamburg, Germany
  • 2Universitätsklinikum Hamburg Eppendorf, Institut für Pathologie, Hamburg, Germany
  • 3Erbe Medizintechnik Elektromedizin, Forschung, Tübingen, Germany
  • 4Universitätsklinikum Hamburg Eppendorf, Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Hamburg, Germany

Background: Endoscopic-ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is an established technique for diagnosis of pancreatic diseases with tissue diagnosis mostly made on the basis of cytology Aim of this study was to evalutate a novel EUS cryoprobe to gain histology from pancreatic biopsy in comparison with FNA and rigid true-cut biopsy.

Methods: This prospective blinded animal study was designed to compare a novel flexible cryoprobe (18G, Erbe, Tübingen, Germany) for pancreatic biopsies with a flexible FNA (19G) probe and a rigid true-cut biopsy (18G) probe in live anaesthetized pigs. All biopsies were performed under laparotomy to assess bleeding times of each technique. The flexible cryoprobe was tested without and in conjunction with different specimen retrieval sheath (1.6; 1.75; 2.53mm). For each of the seven groups 12 biopsies were obtained. All specimens were assessed by a pathologist, who was blinded towards the biopsy method, for artefacts and histopathological assessibility using a seven point likert scale.

Results: Bleeding time was significantly longer for FNA compared to Cryoprobe and true-cut biopsies (p<0.05). Artefacts were significantly higher for FNA compared to Cryoprobe and true-cut biopsies (p<0.01). Histopathological assessibility was significantly better for Cryoprobe and true-cut biopsies compared to FNA (p<0.001).

Figure 1

Figure 2

Conclusions: Cryobiopsy is a novel technique that allows to obtain large biopsy samples of pancratic parenchyma using a flexible probe with less bleeding time, better quality for histology assessment and less artefacts compared to FNA.