Bronchoscopic Ultrasonography and Brachytherapy in Roentgenologically Occult Bronchogenic Carcinoma

Abstract

Bronchoscopic ultrasonography is a recently introduced technique in the diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma. Bronchoscopic brachytherapy is well established as a therapeutic modality in palliative therapy of advanced malignancies of the tracheobronchial tree. In an effort to combine these two modalities, we performed bronchoscopic ultrasonography in 12 patients, in all of whom bronchogenic carcinoma was histologically confirmed, although the cancers were roentgenologically occult. All 12 patients received bronchoscopic brachytherapy, and follow-up evaluations showed complete response in 11. Even though 2 patients died of other causes, the remaining 10 patients are alive at present (for an average of 6.3 months after therapy), without evidence of recurrence or distant metastases. Our experience suggests that bronchoscopic ultrasonography appears promising in the diagnosis of roentgenologically occult and bronchogenic carcinomas. The results of our study also show that in such cases bronchoscopic brachytherapy yields a high rate of therapeutic response.