Endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration initiation into the Lyon Sud hospital center: Experience of the first three years

Introduction. - Endobronchial ultrasound is a recent technique for the diagnosis and the lymph node staging in lung cancer. It also showed interest in non tumoral mediastinal lymph nodes diagnosis. This work relates the CHLS first three years' experience in terms of EEB practical use as a new diagnostic tool in this field. Methods. - Retrospective study of consecutive cases patients having undergone endobronchial ultrasound from November 2008 till June 2011 in the CHLS. Results. - On 65 endobronchial ultrasound, general anesthesia was practiced in 89 % of the cases, with a good tolerance in 81 % of the cases. In 77% cases, EEB allowed diagnosis and avoided mediastinoscopy in 60.5% of the cases. The respective sensibility, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 74 %, 100 %, 100% and 48%. Conclusion. - These data, reflect of a novice team experience, illustrate the results obtained in the current practice in terms of etiologic diagnosis. Endobronchial ultrasound seems destined to a bright future but requires the development of dedicated centers allowing pulmonologists training and specialized pathologists in this field. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.