Next Generation Sequencing for the Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Biliary Strictures

ABSTRACT The differentiation between benign and malignant biliary strictures remains a significant clinical challenge. Recent studies have suggested that next generation sequencing (NGS) can improve the diagnostic accuracy. However, evidence on its performance in routine clinical practice is limited. Therefore, validation of the diagnostic value of NGS using real‐world clinical data is warranted. We compared the performance of NGS analysis of cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC)‐associated mutations in endoscopic biopsies with that of histopathology, CA19‐9 and cross‐sectional imaging. NGS showed higher sensitivity for malignancy (65%) compared to histopathology (52%) at similar specificity (96% vs. 100%). The combination of NGS and histopathology further increased sensitivity for malignancy to 78% ( p  = 0.03) at similar specificity (96%). Our data provide support for the use of NGS in the diagnostic workup of biliary strictures.