Endobronchial Ultrasonography With a Guide-sheath(EBUS-GS) for Peripheral Pulmonary Lesions

Abstract

Background. We previously reported the usefulness of endobronchial ultrasonography with a guide-sheath (EBUS-GS) as a guide for transbronchial biopsy (TBB) for diagnosing peripheral pulmonary lesions using an ultrasound probe with a diameter of 1.4 mm (XUM-S20-17R, Olympus). In a total of 24 peripheral pulmonary lesions of 30 nun or less undergoing EBUS-GS-guided TBB and bronchial brushing, 19 Iesions (79%) were visualized by EBUS and 14 lesions (58%) were diagnosed cyiopathologically. However, several problems were found: the curette was hard to manipulate and only small insufficient specimens were obtained in some cases. Purpose. In order to alleviate these problems we attempted to re-evaluate the usefulness of EBUS-GS-guided TBB for diagnosing peripheral pulmonary lesions using an improved curette or a probe with a diameter of 1.7 mm (UM-S20-20R, Olympus) . Subjects.