Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2015; 21(44): 12544-12557
Published online Nov 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i44.12544
Hepatic applications of endoscopic ultrasound: Current status and future directions
Indu Srinivasan, Shou-Jiang Tang, Andreas S Vilmann, John Menachery, Peter Vilmann
Indu Srinivasan, Shou-Jiang Tang, Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, United States
Andreas S Vilmann, Peter Vilmann, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev, 2730 Herlev, Denmark
John Menachery, Department of Gastroenterology, Rajagiri Hospital Aluva, Kerala 683112, India
Author contributions: All authors were involved in the planning the design and conduct of the review paper; Srinivasan I initial research was conducted; Srinivasan I and Tang SJ were involved in drafting the manuscript; all the authors then contributed equally in revising the manuscript and approving the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Peter Vilmann, MD, DSc, HC, FASGE, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev, Nørregade 10, Herlev 2730, Denmark. peter.vilmann@regionh.dk
Telephone: +45-38-682164
Received: May 8, 2015
Peer-review started: May 11, 2015
First decision: September 11, 2015
Revised: September 28, 2015
Accepted: October 12, 2015
Article in press: October 13, 2015
Published online: November 28, 2015
Abstract

The diagnosis and staging of various gastrointestinal malignancies have been made possible with the use of endoscopic ultrasound, which is a relatively safe procedure. The field of endoscopic ultrasound is fast expanding due to advancements in therapeutic endoscopic ultrasound. Though various studies have established its role in gastrointestinal malignancies and pancreatic conditions, its potential in the field of hepatic lesions still remains vastly untapped. In this paper the authors attempt to review important and landmark trials, case series and case studies involving hepatic applications of endoscopic ultrasound, thus not only providing an overview of utilization of endoscopic ultrasound in various liver conditions but also speculating its future role.

Keywords: Endoscopic ultrasound, Drainage, Liver, Intrahepatic lesion

Core tip: To review the available published trials, case series and case reports, discuss the implications and the future role of endoscopic ultrasound in the management of various liver conditions. Through this review paper we aim to provide a unified one stop educational experience as we have attempted to amalgamate all the published data.