Prospective Randomized Study of Utilizing the 22-gauge Standard FNA Needle Compared to the SharkCore™ 22-gauge Fine Needle Biopsy (FNB) Needle in Patients With Solid Mass Lesions of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Rationale:

A tissue core biopsy with preserved architecture is critical to diagnose and fully characterize certain neoplasms, such as lymphomas and GI stromal tumors (GIST). Moreover, tissue specimens for histologic examination also provides the opportunity to immunostain the tissue, further increasing differential diagnostic capabilities; reach a specific diagnosis for benign diseases not always obtainable with a cytological sample, thus sparing patients from more invasive and risky sampling procedures or costly and unnecessary follow-up examinations; perform tissue profiling and/or cell culture needed to guide targeted therapies for individualized treatment of patients with cancer of the GI tract.

There has previously been no needle available on the market that can accurately and consistently acquire EUS-guided histologic tissue from solid gastrointestinal lesions. Covidien has recently released a novel SharkCore™ Fine Needle Biopsy (FNB) system for EUS-guided tissue acquisition of solid gastrointestinal lesions. With its unique bevel design, this needle has shown promising results to acquire histologic tissue as per oral communication with physicians around the country (Douglas Adler and Christopher DiMaio).

Currently, there is no published clinical data on the capability of the SharkCore™ needle to obtain specimens via EUS guidance. The rationale of the currently proposed trial is to assess the operating characteristics SharkCore™ needle system and to determine the ability of this needle system to yield histologic tissue.

Medtronic Inc. has provided us with an unrestricted grant in order to evaluate the capability of the new 22G SharkCore™ needle to obtain tissue specimens and to compare its performance against the standard 22G BNX EUS-FNA.