Electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy versus virtual bronchoscopy navigation for improving the diagnosis of peripheral lung lesions: analysis of the predictors of successful diagnosis.

PURPOSE: To investigate if electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) improves the diagnostic yield for peripheral lung lesions from that achieved by virtual bronchoscopy navigation (VBN). METHODS: This retrospective study compared the results of 100 ENB-transbronchial lung biopsies (TBLBs) with those of 50 VBN-TBLBs at a single institution. RESULTS: ENB improved the diagnostic yield significantly compared with VBN (64.0% for 19.4 ± 9.0 mm tumors vs. 46.0% for 27.6 ± 8.9 mm tumors; p < 0.0001). Irrespective of the bronchus sign, ENB was more favorable than VBN, with 81.0% (47/58) achieved by ENB vs. 60.0% (21/35) achieved by VBN in the presence of the positive bronchus sign (p = 0.0283), and 40.5% (17/42) achieved by ENB vs. 13.3% (2/15) achieved by VBN in the absence of the bronchus sign (p = 0.0431). Univariate analysis identified tumor size (p = 0.0048), amount of intravenous sedation (p = 0.0182), registration time (p = 0.0111), minimum distance to target (p = 0.0244), and the bronchus sign (p < 0.0001) as factors that affected the yield significantly for ENB. Multivariate analysis identified the bronchus sign (odds ratio 6.74; 95% CI 1.84-24.7) and the registration time (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00-1.02) as significant factors. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the bronchus sign being a significant factor, ENB improved the diagnostic yield of smaller lesions significantly, compared with VBN, regardless of the bronchus sign.