A prospective, head-to-head comparison of 2 EUS-guided liver biopsy needles in vivo

Background and Aims: Procedural standardization in endoscopic ultrasound-guided liver biopsy (EUS-LB) is necessary to obtain core biopsy specimens for accurate diagnosis. The objective of this study was to directly compare the diagnostic yield of 2 EUS-LB fine-needle biopsy (FNB) systems in vivo. Methods: In this prospective, single-center study, 108 adult patients undergoing EUS-LB over a 1-year period were included. Each EUS-LB consisted of an EGD, followed by EUS-guided biopsy of the left lobe of the liver sequentially using 2 different 19-gauge needles: the fork-tip (SharkCore) and Franseen (Acquire) FNB systems. Specimens were then reviewed by a GI histopathologist to determine diagnostic adequacy as well as the number of complete portal tracts, specimen length, and degree of fragmentation. Results: In 79.4% of cases, the fork-tip FNB system yielded a final diagnosis compared with 97.2% of the Franseen FNB specimens (P<.001). The mean number of complete portal tracts in the fork-tip FNB samples was 7.07 compared with 9.59 in the Franseen FNB samples (P<.001). The mean specimen length was 13.86 mm for the fork-tip FNB and 15.81 mm for the Franseen FNB (P = .004). Cores were intact in 47.6% of the fork-tip FNB samples and in 75.2% of the Franseen FNB samples (P = .004). Conclusions: In EUS-LB, we found that the 19-gauge Franseen FNB system resulted in a statistically significant increase in diagnostic adequacy compared with biopsy using the fork-tip FNB system.

Automated summary

This study directly compared the diagnostic yield of two EUS-LB fine-needle biopsy systems and found that the 19-gauge Franseen FNB system significantly increased diagnostic adequacy compared with the fork-tip FNB system in EUS-LB.