The Outcome of Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration in Patients with Pancreatic Cystic Neoplasms: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer is the sixth most common cause of death from cancer in the UK. Cystic pancreatic neoplasms are being recognized more with the increase in the use of the CT scan. EUS has been increasingly used to asses and identify lesions in the pancreas, however, it can’t differentiate between benign and malignant tumors alone. The role of EUS guided FNA cytology (EUS FNAC) is still controversial in the management of pancreatic cysts where neoplastic process is questioned. Aim: This systematic review is aiming to explore the currently available evidence assessing the role of EUS guided FNA cytology (EUS FNAC) in the management of pancreatic cystic neoplasms. Methods: A total of five studies with 597 patient EUS FNAC episodes were included in this systematic review. Results: The sensitivity of the EUS FNAC in the papers was variable between 46.7% to 91.7% while the sensitivity of the test was 100% for all the papers except for 1 paper which was 82.1%. CEA level was assessed in 3 papers, however, the cut off level was different. Conclusion: The high specificity of EUS FNAC qualify it as a useful adjunct to ascertain or exclude malignancy in the pancreatic cystic lesions. EUS FNAC cannot be used alone as a method of screening, given low sensitivity. Measuring CEA in the cyst fluid can be a good aide to increase the sensitivity and an identifiable cut off level should be proposed. Well-conducted and powered studies are needed to further explore the role of EUS FNAC in patients with pancreatic cystic neoplastic lesions.