Role of confocal laser endomicroscopy compared with high definition i-scan video bronchoscopy in patients with suspected lung cancer

Background Lung cancer is the one of the most important leading cause of mortality related to cancer worldwide. The 5-year survival is not optimistic with a percentage of 15% with mild improvement along the past 20 years (1.59 million deaths). The best effective and sensitive strategies of prevention is avoiding the common risk factor; tobacco smoking. The mortality of lung cancer can be reduced by early detection and treatment of the cases. Bronchial carcinoma in situ is one of the important stages to detect since over 40% of these can develop into invasive cancer. Sputum cytology and chest imaging have been used as a screening tests with limited success. Objective To study the diagnostic performance of confocal laser endomicroscopy in comparison to high definition i-scan videobronchoscopy in patients with suspected lung cancer. Patients and methods The study was performed at pulmonary diseases hospital in Kobry Elkobba military complex for 2 years since January 2018 to December 2019. The study included 25 patients all had chest CT findings suspicious of lung cancer. Results i-scan findings showed 68% accuracy and 73.3% specificity, and findings of confocal laser endomicroscopy were 92% accuracy and 90% specificity. Conclusion This was a study including patient characteristics in Egypt as a comparison between two methods of diagnosis of lung cancer. The study showed the higher sensitivity of confocal laser endomicroscopy in the diagnosis of lung cancer approved by the results of the pathological specimens optioned under the visual of confocal laser endomicroscopy in comparison with i-scan method.