Slow-pull and different conventional suction techniques in endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of pancreatic solid lesions using 22-gauge needles

Table 3 Cytological diagnostic capacity and specimen quality of the different suction techniques

	Slow-pull (n = 31)	5-mL (n = 19)	10-mL (n = 34)	20-mL (n = 18)	P value1
Cytological diagnostic capacity
Accuracy	28/31 (90.3%)	12/19 (63.2%)	20/34 (58.8%)	10/18 (55.6%)	0.0192
Sensitivity	15/17 (88.2%)	5/12 (41.7%)	8/20 (40.0%)	4/11 (36.4%)	0.0092
Specificity	13/14 (92.9%)	7/7 (100%)	12/14 (85.7%)	6/7 (85.7%)	0.914
PPV	15/16 (93.8%)	5/5 (100%)	8/10 (80.0%)	4/5 (80.0%)	0.542
NPV	13/15 (86.7%)	7/14 (50.0%)	12/24 (50.0%)	6/13 (46.2%)	0.079
Cytological specimen quality
Cellularity score ≥ 2	22/31 (71.0%)	11/19 (57.9%)	20/34 (58.8%)	13/18 (72.2%)	0.598
Blood contamination score ≥ 2	9/31 (29.0%)	10/19 (52.6%)	24/34 (70.6%)	13/18 (72.2%)	0.0032

¹Fisher’s exact test for “specificity” and “PPV”; χ² test for the rest;

²Statistically significant. PPV: Positive predictive value; NPV: Negative predictive value.