Etude comparée des prélèvements histologiques et cytologiques obtenus par fibrobronchoscopie et bronchoscopie rigide dans les néoplasies bronchiques

The authors compare histological and cytological (endobronchial secretions) results in 2 groups of patients with bronchial carcinoma: group I includes 121 consecutive cases of bronchial carcinoma, who all underwent bronchofiberscopy, group II comprises 121 last cases of bronchial carcinoma, who all underwent a rigid bronchoscopy. When bronchial carcinoma was not demonstrated by endoscopy, it could be demonstrated either by positive cytology of sputa, either by mediastinoscopy, thoracotomy, metastase biopsy, transcutaneous pulmonary biopsy or post-mortem examination. In a few cases, bronchial carcinoma was clinically evident but had no anatomopathologic proof. In 79% of the cases of bronchofiberscopy and in 57% of the cases of rigid bronchoscopy, bronchial biopsy and/or bronchial secretions were positive (P