• Hirofumi Harima, Seiji Kaino, Shuhei Shinoda, Michitaka Kawano, Shigeyuki Suenaga, and Isao Sakaida.
• Hirofumi Harima, Seiji Kaino, Shuhei Shinoda, Michitaka Kawano, Shigeyuki Suenaga, Isao Sakaida, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan.
• World J. Gastroenterol. 2015 May 28; 21 (20): 6252-60.

AimTo elucidate the role of contrast-enhanced endoscopic ultrasonography (CE-EUS) in the diagnosis of branch duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (BD-IPMN).MethodsA total of 50 patients diagnosed with BD-IPMN by computed tomography (CT) and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) at our institute were included in this study. CE-EUS was performed when mural lesions were detected by EUS. The diagnostic accuracy for identifying mural nodules (MNs) was evaluated by CT, EUS, and EUS combined with CE-EUS. In the patients who underwent resection, the accuracy of measuring MN height with each imaging modality was compared. The cut-off values to diagnose malignant BD-IPMNs based on MN height for each imaging modality were determined using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.ResultsFifteen patients were diagnosed with BD-IPMN with MNs and underwent resection. The remaining 35 patients were diagnosed with BD-IPMN without MNs and underwent follow-up monitoring. The pathological findings revealed 14 cases with MNs and one case without. The accuracy for diagnosing MNs was 92% using CT and 72% using EUS; the diagnostic accuracy increased to 98% when EUS and CE-EUS were combined. The accuracy for measuring MN height significantly improved when using CE-EUS compared with using CT or EUS (median measurement error value, CT: 3.3 mm vs CE-EUS: 0.6 mm, P < 0.05; EUS: 2.1 mm vs CE-EUS: 0.6 mm, P < 0.01). A cut-off value of 8.8 mm for MN height as measured by CE-EUS improved the accuracy of diagnosing malignant BD-IPMN to 93%.ConclusionUsing CE-EUS to measure MN height provides a highly accurate method for differentiating benign from malignant BD-IPMN.

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