During Sunday morning’s ASGE Clinical Symposium EUS: Doing the Basics Better, four experts will update gastroenterologists on the fundamentals of tissue acquisition, as well as current and emerging indications for endoscopic ultrasound (EUS).

“The emerging role of therapeutic and interventional EUS is driving the desire for greater availability in the community,” said Ferga Gleeson, MD, FASGE, professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. “The goal of the symposium is to offer a solid foundational outline of the spectrum of EUS applications for people who are new to the technology or are thinking about incorporating certain aspects of it into their respective practices.”

Dr. Gleeson will co-moderate the symposium with Julia LeBlanc, MD, a gastroenterologist at Internal Medicine Associates, Merrillville, IN.

The session’s presenters will examine the value of EUS in characterizing the “lumps and bumps” and pancreatic cysts that are commonly seen in routine endoscopy and cross-sectional imaging, Dr. LeBlanc said.

“This topic will serve as a good introduction because, as gastroenterologists, we often incidentally find these sub-epithelial lesions in the gastrointestinal tract,” Dr. LeBlanc said. “It’s important to know which ones need resection. EUS helps to determine the layer from which the lesion is originating, whether it is extrinsic to the gastrointestinal tract and whether the lesion is premalignant or malignant.”

That will lead into a discussion of the utility of EUS in cancer staging, where it has become standard of care for staging luminal and some extraluminal cancers, including pancreatic and biliary tumors.

“EUS for cancer staging is probably one of the top three applications for EUS, whether you are in the community or in an academic institution,” Dr. LeBlanc said. “And the role of EUS in detecting and identifying pancreaticobiliary pathology has become increasingly important, as it complements magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) and is used to acquire tissue to make a diagnosis.”

Emerging research is shedding light on identifiable, high-risk features and biomarker status obtained via EUS that can aid in risk stratification and in determining which pancreatic cysts should undergo resection rather than surveillance, Dr. Gleeson added.

“This is a challenging area, but one that is continually evolving and improving,” she said. “EUS is an exciting technology and one that is likely to be in increasing demand as its clinical utility and novel applications evolve. It’s important for gastroenterologists to be aware of the evolving EUS landscape and its current and potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications.”

Please refer to the DDW Mobile App or the Program section in Sunday’s issue for the time and location of this and other DDW^® events.