Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration for the diagnosis of thoracic sarcoidosis / 中华胸心血管外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluated the role of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) in the diagnosis of thoracic sarcoidosis.Methods The study was retrospective,from September 2009 to June 2011,35 patients with suspected sarcoidosis,with enlarged hilar or mediastinal lymph nodes on computed tomography ( ≥1.0 cm),underwent EBUS-TBNA.Patients in whom EBUS-TBNA was nondiagnostic subsequently underwent surgical biopsy or a minimum of 6 months clinical and radiologic follow-up.Results EBUS-TBNA was performed on a total of 87 lymph node stations in 35 patients.Of the enlarged lymph nodes,64 (73.6％) were located in the mediastinal region and the remaining 23 ( 26.4％ ) around the hilar or interlobar area.A final diagnosis of sarcoidosis was made for 28 (80％) of the patients.In patients with a final diagnosis of sarcoidosis,EBUS-TBNA demonstrated noncaseating epithelioid cell granulomas in 25 ( 89.3％ ) of the patients.EBUS was well tolerated by all of the patients with no complications.Conclusion EBUS-TBNA is a safe procedure with a high yield for the diagnoses of thoracic sarcoidosis of stage Ⅰ or Ⅱ.