Report of first experience with endoscopic ultrasonography in Slovak Republic

Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is a method that takes the advantage of a combination of endoscopy and ultrasound, where a miniature probe that functions as a transducer (which functions as both a transmitter and a receiver of ultrasound), is incorporated in the tip of the endoscope. From the introduction, this modality has found it s uninterchangable place all over the world not only in the diagnosis, but also in the therapy of gastrointestinal diseases and the diseases of the surrounded structures and organs. Indications for EUS can be simply divided into three main categories: submucosal abnormalities, staging of tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreatobiliary diseases. In December 2000 we began at the Clinic of Gastroenterology of Slovak Postgraduate Academy of Medicine at St. Cyril and Method s Hospital in Bratislava, Slovak Republic with the EUS evaluation with radial mechanical probe, as the first one in the Slovak Republic. In this article we describe our first experience with the EUS at our clinic.

All together 64 patients were evaluated from December 2000 to the end of March 2001 from all over the Slovakia. In this article we describe in more detailed form the indications and also the findings in our group of patients.