Experience of endoscopic ultrasound in an Australian tertiary hospital

Abstract

Background: There is minimal prospective data on endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) experience in Australia. This study aimed to review the recent EUS experience of a single Australian tertiary hospital. Methods: Data of all EUS carried out at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia were prospectively collected from August 2002 to September 2005. Patient demographics, indications, anatomical sites of EUS and fine-needle aspiration (FNA) were extracted from the database. A subset of 231 patients were involved in a prospective study to assess the clinical effect of EUS: with accuracy and outcomes data derived from surgical histology and pre-EUS and post-EUS questionnaires. Results: Five hundred a..