Abstract
[Background and aim] Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of mediastinal lesions has been reported as an available method for diagnosis in the last two decades, while transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) has been performed for diagnosis of lung cancer. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of EUS-FNA of a mediastinal lesion and the contribution of EUS-FNA to the diagnosis of lung cancer with TBLB. [Method] Between May 2010 and March 2012, we performed EUS-FNA on a total of 102 lesions (mediastinal lesion, 52 ; pancreatic lesion, 40 ; others, 10). Among them, we retrospectively analyzed the results of EUS-FNA of the 52 mediastinal lesions with the results of TBLB. [Results] The diagnostic rate by EUS-FNA in the 52 lesions was 100% (52/52). The final diagnoses were metastasis of lung cancer to a lymph node, 29 ; metastasis of gastrointestinal or prostate cancer to a lymph node, 3 ; sarcoidosis, 4 ; malignant lymphoma, 2 ; and inflammatory or non-specific lymphadenopathy, 14. The acquisition rates of evaluable cells and tissues obtained by EUS-FNA were 100% (52/52) and 98% (51/52), respectively. Among the 29 patients with lung cancer, the diagnostic accuracy of TBLB was 36% (9/25), and that of both EUS-FNA and TBLB was increased to 100%. [Conclusion] EUS-FNA is effective for diagnosis of a mediastinal lesion. Especially for diagnosis of lung cancer, EUS-FNA plays a complementary role to TBLB.
