Endoscopic ultrasonography and endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy for the diagnosis of lower digestive tract disease.

We evaluated the efficacy of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) biopsy for the diagnosis of lower digestive tract lesions. Between 1997 and 2001, ten patients whose barium enema or colonoscopy results were highly suspicious of lower digestive tract disease underwent EUS and EUS-FNA biopsy. In all these ten patients, while endoscopic biopsy could not provide a definitive diagnosis, mass lesions were detectable by EUS. However EUS images alone were insufficient for accurate diagnosis. The diagnostic accuracy rate of EUS-FNA biopsy was 90% (9/10).