Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS)
Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) is a combination of ultrasound and endoscopy. Endoscopy is the procedure of inserting a tube into the rectum or mouth to view a patient’s digestive tract. Ultrasound machine technology uses sound waves of high frequency to generate images of various internal organs and body parts. Thus, endoscopic ultrasound technology can generate information and images of the digestive tract and the tissues and organs that surround it.
EUS differs from traditional ultrasound because a miniature ultrasound transducer is attached on one end of the endoscope. When the endoscope is inserted into the patient’s digestive tract, doctors are able to view high quality images of internal body organs, and collect important information about blood vessels, the intestinal wall, and lymph nodes. The fact that the transducer is much closer in proximity to the area being examined, the images are much more detailed and accurate than those that would be produced by traditional ultrasound machines. EUS technology is fairly new diagnostic tool used in medicine. It is effective in the prognosis of cancer in the esophagus, lungs, stomach, and pancreas. EUS provides doctors with, sometimes life-saving information that pertains to the depth and spread of cancer in the body. This information is useful for staging cancer.
EUS is also used by doctors to perform a procedure known as fine needle aspiration, or FNA, that collects tissue, using ultrasound guidance, with a thin needle, so that it can be examined under a microscope by a pathologist. This technique is used on patients who have suspicious tumors or enlarged lymph nodes.The risks associated with EUS are minimal; however, because they involve endoscopy procedures, they do pose a higher risk factor than traditional ultrasound machines. Some patients have reported reactions such as nausea, skin rash, or hives. Serious patient documented complications for EUS procedures are extremely rare, but have included perforation of the intestinal wall which inevitably requires surgical repair.






