Endobronchial ultrasound to assess airway wall thickening: validation in vitro and in vivo.

Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) allows identification of airway wall structures and could potentially be utilised for in vivo studies of airway thickening in asthma. The present study investigated whether inflation of the fluid-filled balloon sheath over the transducer (necessary to provide sonic coupling with the airway wall) influenced in vitro measurements. In vivo comparability of EBUS with high resolution computed tomography scanning (HRCT), an established method for measuring wall thickness, was determined in control subjects. The airway diameter and wall thickness were studied using EBUS in 24 cartilaginous airways obtained from four sheep, before and after balloon sheath inflation during immersion in saline. To assess EBUS versus HRCT comparability of airway measures in vivo, 12 control subjects underwent imaging of the posterior basal bronchus of the right lower lobe by both techniques. Intra- and interobserver agreement were also assessed. Results with and without the balloon sheath gave comparable measures of airway internal diameter and wall thickness in vitro. Statistical analysis showed agreement between EBUS and HRCT, and intra- and interobserver variability in vivo. The current study concludes that endobronchial ultrasound, which does not present a radiation risk, could be utilised in the in vivo study of cartilaginous airway wall remodelling in respiratory diseases, such as asthma.

Aberrant diagnoses by individual surgical pathologists.

Methods of auditing the performance of histopathologists, such as external and internal quality assurance, clinicopathological conferences, and "double-reporting" of microscopic slides, show significant diagnostic errors in at least 1.2% of reports. Although some of these are in well-recognized areas of difficulty, such as melanoma or lymphoma, most errors are in common biopsy specimens. We have developed a method that compares diagnostic patterns of individual histopathologists. This aims to identify specific diagnoses that a pathologist makes more or less frequently than other colleagues and enables the individual to reflect on his or her own histologic expertise in reporting on specific biopsy results. The bottom line diagnoses of transurethral resection of prostate specimens; rectal, gastric, and bladder biopsy samples; and endometrial curettages were analyzed retrospectively. Analyses were performed on diagnoses made by at least 15 pathologists on each specimen type and expressed as a standardized ratio (SR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). An SR of 1.0 indicated a pattern of diagnosis matching the combined pattern of other colleagues. An SR <1.0 indicated relative "underdiagnosis" and an SR >1.0 indicated relative "overdiagnosis." Diagnostic rates of individual pathologists whose CIs did not straddle the value of 1.0 were considered aberrant, although not necessarily incorrect. The 47 of 226 (20.8%) aberrant SRs included four pathologists' diagnoses of prostatic carcinoma, three each of endometrial, rectal, and bladder carcinoma, and one of gastric malignancy. This method, which could easily be automated and used regionally or nationally, should provide pathologists with a profile of their diagnostic patterns in comparison with their peers.