Abstract
Background: Histologic specimens obtained by EBUS-TBNA can guide treatment based on pathologic diagnosis and specific driver mutation. However, previous reports indicated that the yield for obtaining histologic specimen by ViziShot® 22-G aspiration needle (Olympus: O needle) was only 50 to 60 percent. Recently, a new 22-G needle, the SonoTip EBUS Pro® (Medi-Globe: M needle) has become available. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the histologic specimen retrieval yields of the O and M needles during EBUS-TBNA.
Methods: The subjects of the study were 94 patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA with M needle (214 punctures, M group). They were compared with a historical control group of 82 patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA with O needle (235 punctures, O group).The quality of the core tissue was evaluated by a pathologist and described according to a previously reported classification.A, diagnostic; B, non-diagnostic; and C, no specimen.
Results: The number of histologic specimens that were evaluated was 214 for the M group and 235 for the O group. The histologic specimens in the M group were interpreted as A in 159 (74.3%), B in 28 (13.1%), C in 27 (12.6%). The histologic specimens in the O group were interpreted as A in 144 (61.3%), B in 60 (25.5%), C in 31 (13.2%). The yield of the M group for a diagnostic histologic sample was significantly higher than that of the O group (74.3% vs. 61.3%, p = 0.0035).
Conclusions: Histologic specimens obtained by M needle had high sampling yields. Further developments on EBUS-TBNA needles are very important to improve sampling yields of core tissue, especially for targeted therapy.
- © 2014 ERS