The value of navigation bronchoscopy in the diagnosis of peripheral pulmonary lesions: A meta‐analysis

BACKGROUND: To compare the diagnostic yield of peripheral pulmonary lesions (PPLs) with and without navigation system. METHODS: Studies dating from January 1990 to October 2019 were collected from databases. Diagnostic yield of navigation bronchoscopy and non‐navigation bronchoscopy was extracted from comparative studies. Subgroup analysis was adopted to test diagnostic yield variation by lesion size, lobe location of the lesion, distance from the hilum, bronchus sign and nature of the lesion. RESULTS: In total, 2131 patients from 10 studies were enrolled into the study. Diagnostic yield of navigation bronchoscopy was statistically higher than non‐navigation bronchoscopy for PPLs (odds ratio [OR] 1.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32, 2.18, P < 0.001), particularly for PPLs in the peripheral third lung (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.48, 3.44, P < 0.001) and for bronchus sign positive PPLs (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.21, 4.26, P = 0.011). Navigation bronchoscopy had better performance than non‐navigation bronchoscopy when PPLs were ≤ 20 mm (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.44, 3.03, P < 0.001). It also elevated diagnostic yield of malignant PPLs (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.26, 2.22, P < 0.001) and PPLs in the bilateral upper lobes (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.09, 2.08, P = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: Navigation bronchoscopy enhanced diagnostic yield when compared to non‐navigation bronchoscopy, particularly for PPLs in the peripheral third lung, PPLs being bronchus sign positive, PPLs ≤ 20 mm, malignant PPLs and PPLs in the bilateral upper lobes. KEY POINTS: The current study provided systematic evaluation on the diagnostic value of navigation bronchoscopy by comparing it with non‐navigation bronchoscopy, and exploring the factors affecting the diagnostic yield.