EXPERIENCE WITH CYTOLYT SOLUTION IN ENDOSCOPIC ULTRASOUND-GUIDED TISSUE SAMPLING FOR SPECIMEN PRESERVATION AND EVALUATION

Aims Although Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS)-guided tissue sampling is widely used, the optimal sampling strategy remains subject of debate. We present our initial experience with liquid based cytology with a special fixative (Cytolyt solution).

Methods Date from patients with accessible echoendoscopic solid lesions prospectively collected were retrospective analysed. Samples were taken with EUS-needle aspiration from February 2018 to May 2019. Demographic data were collected. Fisher test was used in order to evaluate the difference in the success of samples between lesions bigger and smaller than 2 cm.

Results Thirty patients were included: 53,3% men, with a median age of 68,5 years. Most of lesions were masses (53,3%), being the pancreas the most frequent location (40,0%). Most of the needle we used were of 25G (36,7%), with a median number of samples of 2 (minimum-maximum: 1-5). We sent the specimens in a methanol solution (Cytolyt) to be analysed later. Overall, 86,7% of the samples were adequate for the anatomopathologic study. There were no statistical differences in success of the sample between lesions bigger and smaller than 2 cm (p = 0,716).

Conclusions Cytolyt solution as a fixation and procession technique seems to be an adequate option to avoid the presence of an anatomopathologist for samples obtained by (EUS)-guided tissue sampling from solid lesions.