Initial Experience on Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration in the Diagnosis and Staging of Lung Cancer

Background and objective It has been proven that endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) was a new minimally invasive method in the diagnosis for mediastinal lymph nodes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic and staging yield of EBUS-TBNA for lung cancer. Methods Seventy-five patients with tumors and enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes found by CT underwent the diagnosis by endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) from April 1, 2009 to Febuary 8, 2010. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of EBUS-TBNA were evaluated. Results Seventy-five patients with 177 lymph node groups (2.4 groups in average) were studied. Histopathological samples were found in 49.33% patients and in 28.81% groups. Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of EBUS-TBNA for diagnostic were 98.43%, 100.00%, 100.00%, 91.67% and 98.66%, respectively, in per patient analysis and were 95.10%, 100%, 100.00%, 82.93%, and 96.05%, respectively, in per group analysis, higher than CT examination (P < 0.05) expect for sensitivity (P=0.435). Staging changed in 19 (26.03%) patients after EBUS-TBNA. Conclusion EBUS-TBNA proved to be a safe procedure with a high yield for the diagnosis of lung cancer.