Sensitivity and Specificity of Transbronchial Lung Biopsy (TBLB)

ABSTRACT

Twenty-five patients underwent flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopic examination under fluoroscopic guidance. All patients had an endoscopically invisible pulmonary lesion suggestive of malignancy. A diagnostic specimen was obtained in 23 of the 25 patients (92%). A pathological finding of lung cancer was obtained in 14 patient (56%) through the transbronchial lung biopsy (12 cases) and by washing cytology (2 cases). Remaining 11 patients who were undiagnosed for pulmonary malignancy were followed by clinically had roentgenographically over 6 months. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of the TBLB procedures including brushing cytology and noted an 82.4% in sensitivity and 100% in specificity.