Baptist Now Offers Endoscopic Ultrasound With Fine Needle Aspiration
Technique Offers Highly Accurate Staging of GI Cancers

Contact: Robby Channell, 601-968-5135 rchannell@mbhs.org

Jackson, Miss. – August 22, 2006 –Physicians in Baptist’s GI Lab now have the ability to perform endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with fine needle aspiration. This capability allows highly accurate staging of gastrointestinal cancers through high-resolution imaging that shows whether the cancer has penetrated the GI wall. Fine needle aspiration also gives physicians the ability to sample the tissue for biopsy.

Gastroenterologists Dr. Shawn Panzer of GI Associates and Dr. Makau Lee of Jackson Medical Clinic both perform the technique at Baptist. Both physicians have several years experience in the procedure. “I am pleased with the addition of this capability at Baptist,” Dr. Lee says.

According to Dr. Panzer, EUS provides the most precise information for determining the T stage of GI cancers. “CT scans and MRIs are good,” he said, “but most aspects of GI tumor staging require determining the degree of penetration into or through the wall. CT is good, but not perfect. EUS gets us very close to the wall with high resolution ultrasound to look at the layers of the wall. Using this method, we can accurately stage the tumor so the patient is properly directed to therapy.”

“This capability has a major impact on the cost effectiveness of treating patients with GI cancers,” Dr. Lee also notes.

For example, in patients with pancreatic cancer, generally one out of four is considered surgically resectable with standard testing. Out of those determined to be surgical candidates, however, not all are found in surgery actually to have tumors that are resectable. The superiority of staging with EUS allows physicians to determine the best candidates for surgery. Patients whose cancer is not treatable through resection may be spared unnecessary surgery and given the opportunity for a better quality of life.

A typical scenario indicating the use of EUS/FNA would be: A physician performs standard endoscopy and finds an abnormality. Follow up CT scans show a pancreatic growth. To determine whether or not it is curable with surgery, EUS/FNA is performed.

EUS is also very good for detecting lymph nodes that might have cancer involvement. “A CT scan can detect involvement at 1 cm,” notes Dr. Panzer. “EUS can find spots smaller than 1 cm. This is helpful, for example in lung cancer, if a lymph node along the esophagus or trachea on the opposite side of the tumor is found to be cancerous.”

EUS with FNA also provides unique therapeutic possibilities for pain management. Physicians can use the technique to drain pseudocysts of the pancreas and also to paralyze the celiac axis in patients with chronic pancreatic pain or pancreatic cancer.

One notable limitation of the EUS/FNA technique is in patients who have undergone chemotherapy. “Once a person has had chemotherapy you can’t tell the difference between the tumor and inflammation,” Dr. Panzer explains.

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