PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Natalia Fouz Rosón
AU  - Estefanía Luque Crespo
AU  - María Pavón Masa
AU  - Andrés Humberto Vega Arias
AU  - Concepción Romero Muñoz
AU  - Teodoro Montemayor Rubio
TI  - Diagnostic contribution of cell block obtained through endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA)
DP  - 2014 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P3553
VI  - 44
IP  - Suppl 58
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3553.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P3553.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44
AB  - Introduction:Conventional smear samples, obtained by EBUS-TBNA, have been useful for diagnosing lung cancer and other benign conditions including sarcoidosis. However, the contribution of cell-block analysis has not been clearly established.Aims:-A descriptive analysis of patients referred to the respiratory unit who underwent EBUS-TBNA.-Evaluate the cell-block contribution to the diagnostic yield in the referred patients.Methods and Materials:All the patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA (Feb2009-Oct2013) were included, not only for those with staging or suspected lung cancer but also the ones with adenopathies found in the computed tomography.The procedure was carried out with local anaesthesia (lidocaine) and under conscious sedation (intravenous midazolam).Smear samples adequacy was assessed by a pathologist using “rapid on-site evaluation” (ROSE).Results:244 patients were included (82% men); mean age: 60,19±13,3.The final diagnosis was obtained by EBUS-TBNA in 54,4% of the cases(n=131). In 92,6% of the cases ROSE was performed, being positive in 55,7%.Cell-blocks were obtained in 105 patients, of which 70,5%(n=74) were useful for diagnosis. Additional diagnostic information in 15 patients who had a negative result in the smear samples was provided by the cell-block (44,1%) of which 10 cases were cancer, being adenocarcinoma the most common.No relationship between the number of punctures performed and the cell-block obtention was found.Conclusions:The cell-block provides additional pathologic information in patients with negative smear samples confirming its utility for lung cancer diagnosis and other benign diseases.