HOW SHALL WE EXPERIENCE EUS AND EUS-FNA BEFORE THE FIRST PROCEDURE?: THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING TOOLS.

The learning curve of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and EUS-fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is long with existing data suggesting that> 150 supervised cased are required! To shorten the learning period of EUS, a few learning tools have been developed. The learning tools especially designed for EUS and EUS-FNA (live animal model, computer simulator, simple phantom, EUS RK model) were reviewed. There is a need to develop learning tools for EUS that require no maintenance, are inexpensive, readily available, and proven to shorten the learning curve. Few centers have the faculty expertise and adequate caseload (to sufficiently train fellows in EUS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]