Chest
Original Research: Interventional BronchoscopyEndobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Lung Biopsy in Fluoroscopically Invisible Solitary Pulmonary Nodules: A Prospective Trial
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Patients and Methods
In a prospective crossover study from January 2003 to January 2004, all patients with SPNs who were referred for diagnostic bronchoscopy were enrolled. All chest CTs were reviewed, and the size of the lesions was recorded by their longest diameter. The procedures used in the study were in accordance with the recommendations found in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975. The study was approved by the institutional review board, and written informed consent was obtained in all patients, after which
Results
One hundred thirty-eight consecutive patients with SPNs were examined. Of those, 54 patients (18 women and 36 men; mean age, 46.3 years; range, 35 to 78 years) presented with fluoroscopically invisible SPNs and were included in the trial population. The mean ± SD diameter of the lesion was 2.2 ± 0.7 cm (range, 1.4 to 3.3 cm). The nodules were located in the right middle lobe in 8 patients (15%), the left upper lobe in 10 patients (18%), the right upper lobe in 14 patients (26%), the left lower
Discussion
The need to workup and manage pulmonary nodules and masses is encountered with increasing frequency in chest medicine. A commonly performed procedure, endoscopic transbronchial biopsy, is associated with many problems. The yield greatly depends on the size and location of the abnormality2367 and generally on the ability to visualize the lesion fluoroscopically. The frequently small abnormalities that cannot be visualized with fluoroscopy present a particular problem because transbronchial
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Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml).
The endobronchial ultrasound probe was loaned to the authors by Olympus Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, for the duration of this study.