From a Diagnostic Tool to a Therapeutic Instrument: Interventional Endoscopic Ultrasound

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) literature dates back to the 1980s, and the first report of its application in gastroenterology was published in the Lancet by Dimagno et al, entitled “Ultrasonic endoscope.”1 In its infancy, EUS was utilized for diagnostic imaging only, until the 1990s when an echoendoscope equipped with an accessory channel was introduced. Several EUS-guided interventions have been performed since the early 1990s, such as fine needle aspiration and celiac plexus neurolysis.2–5 In recent years, however, we have witnessed multiple new EUS-guided interventions, with many becoming the treatment of choice for multiple diseases. Moreover, because of its increasing use, several new devices have been developed (eg, lumen-apposing metal stents [LAMS], microbubble contrast agents for harmonic EUS) or adapted from other specialties (microcoils, hyaluronate, sclerosants, cardiac angioplasty balloon, or multiple interventional radiology wires)