Endoscopic ultrasound-guided sampling of solid pancreatic masses: 22-gauge aspiration versus 25-gauge biopsy needles

Table 4 Sample quality results for conventional smear^a

	22-gauge FNA (n = 38)	25-gauge FNB (n = 38)	P value
Amount of cellular material	1.26 ± 0.72	1.55 ± 0.72	0.085
Retention of appropriate architecture	1.39 ± 0.68	1.63 ± 0.67	0.132
Degree of cellular degeneration	1.42 ± 0.60	1.58 ± 0.64	0.271
Degree of cellular trauma	1.26 ± 0.55	1.53 ± 0.65	0.061
Background blood or clot	1.29 ± 0.70	1.53 ± 0.73	0.150
Total score	6.63 ± 2.90	7.82 ± 3.14	0.092

FNA fine needle aspiration, FNB fine needle biopsy
Continuous variables are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation
^a The scoring system reported by Mair et al. [19] was used for the assessment of sample quality

ISSN: 1471-230X