Abstract
Introduction: We reviewed our cases with mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathies who were diagnosed as anthracosis with EBUS-TBNA which is a minimally invasive procedure with high diagnostic accuracy in mediastinal and hilar masses. The finding of high SUV max in 18-FDG-PET of the patients with anthracosis attracted attention. We conducted this retrospective evaluation to determine the incidence of risk factors and the uptake values within lymph nodes of anthracosis.
Methods: 108 who underwent EBUS-TBNA and diagnosed as anthracosis were analyzed retrospectively. Only the patients with positive confirmation with surgical biopsies and with one-year disease-free follow-up period were enrolled. The mean duration of exposure to risk factors and SUV max of sampled lymph nodes was recorded.
Results: 204 lymph nodes were sampled in 107 patients. The diagnosis were confirmed surgically in 35( 24.8%) cases. Subcarinal and interlobar lymph nodes were the most commonly affected stations (36.1% and 35%, respectively). The mean duration of exposure and cigarette smoke were 35.7 and 32.77 years, respectively. There were 42 malignant cases and the most common cell type was squamous cell carcinoma, .25 (59.5%) cases. SUV max of antracotic lymph nodes not associated with malignancy were significantly higher than malignancy associated lymph nodes involvement.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that anthracosis affectsnot only intrapulmonary lymph nodes, but also the mediastinal and hilar stations and should be considered in differential diagnosis inpatients with mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopaties with intense uptake on PET scan, and especially with a history of exposure to known risk factors.
- © 2013 ERS
