Endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration and biopsy in lung cancer and isolated mediastinal lymphadenopathy.

ABSTRACT

Endoscopic ultrasound with fine-needle aspiration and biopsy (EUS-FNAB) is well established in diagnosing and staging lung cancer in patients with mediastinal adenopathy. EUS-FNAB is highly sensitive, less invasive and has lower complication rates when compared to surgical staging of mediastinal nodes. In this study we describe our experience of EUS-FNAB in lung cancer and other causes of mediastinal lymphadenopathy. EUS-FNAB was performed for assessment of PET positive mediastinal lymph nodes between January 2007 and March 2009 in AMNCH. The endpoints of our study were sensitivity and specificity of EUS-FNAB, morbidity and length of hospital stay. Thirty four patients underwent EUS-FNAB during the study period for both diagnosis and staging. Thirty patients had positive lymph node invasion and 4 had no evidence of malignant invasion. In these 4 patients negative cytology was confirmed on mediastinoscopy giving EUS-FNAB a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. EUS-FNAB upstaged the disease in 12 patients. EUS-FNAB is a reliable tool for mediastinal staging in lung cancer, significantly reducing the need for surgical staging procedures in patients with suspected mediastinal involvement.