Contribution of aspiration to the diagnosis of lung cancer in endobronchial ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy

OBJECTIVE: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration has been successfully applied in both diagnosis and staging of mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathies and masses, especially in malignant cases. However, the optimal procedure of Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration to further increase diagnostic yield and minimize processing complexity remains controversial. This study aims to compare aspiration biopsy (Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration) and non-aspiration biopsy (Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle capillary sampling) in terms of sample adequacy, diagnosis, and quality in malignant cases. METHODS: Between March 2018 and June 2020, Endobronchial ultrasound- guided was performed sequentially on patients with mediastinal and/or hilar lymph nodes that were considered malignant. Each lymphadenopathy was sampled with and without aspiration. A single-blinded pathologist evaluated the samples. RESULTS: A total of 84 lymph nodes evaluations of 51 patients were included. Most samples were taken from the right lower paratracheal lymph nodes ( n=27, 32.2%) and subcarinal LN (n=21, 25%). The mean size of the lymph nodes was 21.21 +/- 8.257 (8-40) mm. The agreement between the two procedures in terms of sample adequacy and diagnostic yield was 69.1% (95%CI 58-78.7, p=0.076). In addition, according to the goodness-of-fit statistics, the kappa values were 0.255 (p=0.015) and 0.302 (p=0.004) for sample adequacy and diagnostic yield, respectively. There was no difference between the two procedures in relation to complications. CONCLUSION: Although the agreement between the two procedures is weak, Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle capillary sampling can be performed with less personnel, without reducing diagnostic yield and tissue adequacy. These findings can assist clinicians in determining the optimal procedure for Endobronchial ultrasound-guided.