Abstract
Objective : Recently, endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) has been used in the evaluation of hilar and mediastinal lymph node metastasis. In this study, we examined the role of cytology in EBUS-TBNA and the utility of cytological on-site reports.
Study Design : One hundred and fifty-one consecutive patients (400 lymph nodes) underwent EBUS-TBNA at Chiba Cancer Center from March 2011 to October 2011. We compared the cytological and histological finding obtained by EBUS-TBNA. Furthermore we assessed the diagnostic accuracy of the cytological on-site and cytological final reports.
Results : The rates of adequate material in cytology and histology were 87.8% and 85.0% respectively. The concordance rates of cytology and histology were malignancy, 93.1% ; benign, 96.9% ; and overall, 95.3%. Concordance with the final histological report of 90.7% (117/129) was achieved in 129 lymph nodes on which cytological on-site reporting was performed. Hemacolor specimens with discrepancy cases between the cytological on-site and cytological final reports were mainly necrosis 25.0% (3/12), a few atypical cells 16.7% (2/12) and no atypical cells 58.3% (7/12).
Conclusion : We concluded that cytology in EBUS-TBNA is useful in evaluation of hilar and mediastinal lymph node metastasis and cytological on-site reporting offers an excellent contribution to the case evaluation.
