Background and objective: To determine the usefulness of endobronchial ultrasonography (EBUS) with real-time needle aspiration (NA) for lung cancer staging.
Patients and method: All patients examined with EBUS and real-time NA to measure and sample mediastinal and lobar nodes for lung cancer staging during one year were included, independently of the size of the mediastinal nodes at computed tomography (CT).
Results: Eighty two nodes > 5 mm were sampled using EBUS-NA (16.0 [7.2] mm; 23 cases <or= 10 mm, 28.0%), from 67 patients were examined for staging (64.0 [12.4] years). NA from 72 nodes was adequate (87.8%) (38 normal node, 46.3%; 31 neoplasia, 37.8%; 3 granuloma, 3.7%), and EBUS-NA found neoplasia in 4/23 nodes <or= 10 mm (17.4%). EBUS-NA showed neoplasic nodes in 5 out of 24 patients with a normal mediastinum at CT (20.8%). The use of EBUS-NA avoided mediastinoscopy in 62 of the 67 patients included in the study (92.5%).
Conclusions: The use of EBUS with real-time NA on mediastinal and lobar nodes obtain representative pathological samples and allow the avoidance of mediastinoscopy in over 90% of the patients referred for lung cancer staging.