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Review
. 2021 Oct 11;57(10):1085.
doi: 10.3390/medicina57101085.

The Role of Contrast-Enhanced Harmonic Endoscopic Ultrasound in Interventional Endoscopic Ultrasound

Cecilia Binda  1 , Chiara Coluccio  1 , Gianmarco Marocchi  1   2 , Monica Sbrancia  1 , Carlo Fabbri  1
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Contrast-Enhanced Harmonic Endoscopic Ultrasound in Interventional Endoscopic Ultrasound

Cecilia Binda et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Over the last decades, contrast-enhanced harmonic endoscopic ultrasound (CH-EUS) has emerged as an important diagnostic tool for the diagnosis and differentiation of several gastrointestinal diseases. The key advantage of CH-EUS is that the influx and washout of contrast in the target lesion can be observed in real time, accurately depicting microvasculature. CH-EUS is established as an evidence-based technique complementary to B-mode EUS to differentiate solid appearing structures, to characterize mass lesions, and to improve the staging of gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary cancer. In the last few years, interest has increased in the use of CH-EUS in interventional procedures such as tissue acquisition, tumor ablation, biliary drainage, and the management of pancreatic fluid collections. The aim of this narrative review is to evaluate the available evidence and future expectations of CH-EUS in interventional EUS.

Keywords: EUS-guided drainage; contrast enhancement; contrast-enhanced EUS; endoscopic ultrasound; fine-needle aspiration; gallbladder drainage; interventional EUS; pancreatic fluid collection; tumor ablation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CH-EUS-guided tissue acquisition. View of a CH-EUS-guided FNB of a solid pancreatic lesion with the needle directed to avoid the area without enhancement (arrows).
Figure 2
Figure 2
CH-EUS in hepatobiliary evaluation. View of gallbladder wall enhancement (arrows) at CH-EUS evaluation of a hydropic gallbladder.
Figure 3
Figure 3
CH-EUS in PFC evaluation. View of splenic artery (arrow) within a walled-off pancreatic necrosis visualized using CH-EUS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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