Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration for lung cancer diagnosis and staging in 179 patients

Abstract Background Linear endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (eBUStBNA) is an important minimally invasive procedure for non-small cell lung cancer (NScLc) staging. It is also a valid method for diagnosing extraluminal lesions adjacent to the tracheobronchial tree. Aim to evaluate our eBUS-tBNA performance regarding diagnostic yield, safety and learning curve for lung cancer diagnosis and staging. Material and methods All patients undergoing eBUS-tBNA for lung cancer diagnosis or staging were included. they were divided into three different groups: paratracheal and parabronchial masses sent for diagnosis (Group 1); peripheral lung lesions with abnormal mediastinal lymph nodes sent for diagnosis and staging (Group 2); NScLc patients sent for mediastinal staging (Group 3). the learning curve was assessed for yield, accuracy, procedure time, size and number of lesions punctured per patient Results A total of 179 patients were included and 372 lesions were punctured. the overall yield and accuracy were 88% and 92.7%, respectively. In Group 1, eBUS-tBNA was performed in 48 patients and sensitivity was 86.1% and accuracy was 87.5%. For the 87 patients included in Group 2, yield was 86.7%, accuracy was 93.1% and cancer prevalence was 51.7%. the diagnostic yield and accuracy in Group 3 was 95% and 97.7% respectively. eBUS-tBNA practice led to an increase number of sites punctured per patient in a shorter time, without complications. Conclusion eBUS-tBNA is an effective method for diagnosing and staging lung cancer patients. the procedure is clearly safe. Handling and performance improves with the number of procedures executed.