Evaluation of cytology in lung cancer diagnosis based on EBUS-TBNA

AIMS: Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) is a relatively new modality that can be used to guide transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) of mediastinal lymph nodes. At present, researches on the sensitivity and specificity of cytopathology based on the EBUS-TBNA are deficient; therefore, we want to evaluate the value of cytology based on the EBUS-TBNA in this article. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the 379 cases that underwent the EBUS-TBNA in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from April 2010 to May 2011. Discarding the 139 cases with insufficient cells, we analyzed the remaining 240 cases that had enough cells on the smears. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 15.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) was used for data analysis. A P value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: We found that the cytologic diagnosis of sensitivity and specificity reached 94.52% and 95.12%, respectively. The sensitivity of squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and small cell carcinoma was up to 88.24%, 100.00%, and 96.00%, respectively. The specificity of squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and small cell carcinoma reached to 100.00%, 100.00%, and 99.25%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Here, we report that the cytological examination of EBUS-TBNA should be acknowledged as a simple, fast, and safe procedure that provides a reasonable sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis in lung cancer.