EUS-FNA can be used for pathological confirmation of a suspicious pancreatic mass. However, performance depends on
an on-site cytologist and time between punction and final pathology results can be long. SFR spectroscopy is capable of
extracting biologically relevant parameters (e.g. oxygenation and blood volume) in real-time from a very small tissue
volume at difficult locations. In this study we determined feasibility of the integration of SFR spectroscopy during EUSFNA
procedures in pancreatic masses.
Patients with benign and malignant pancreatic masses who were scheduled for an EUS-FNA were included. The working
guide wire inside the 19 gauge endoscopic biopsy needle was removed and the sterile single fiber (300 μm core and 700
μm outer diameter, wide-angle beam, NA 0.22) inserted through the needle. Spectroscopy measurements in the visiblenear
infrared wavelength region (400-900 nm) and autofluorescence measurements (excitation at 405 nm) were taken
three times, and subsequently cytology was obtained. Wavelength dependent optical properties were compared to
cytology results.
We took measurements in 13 patients with corresponding cytology results (including mucinous tumor, ductal
adenocarcinoma, neuroendocrine tumor, and pancreatitis). In this paper we show the first analyzed results comparing
normal pancreatic tissue with cancerous tissue in the same patient. We found a large difference in blood volume fraction,
and blood oxygenation was higher in normal tissue.
Integration of SFR spectroscopy is feasible in EUS-FNA procedures, the workflow hardly requires changes and it takes
little time. The first results differentiating normal from tumor tissue are promising.
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