Clinical Profile and Positivity Rate of Fiber Optic Bronchoscopy (FOB) Procedures in Lung Cancer

Abstract

Fiber Optic Bronchoscopy (FOB) is an invasive procedure that has been traditionally used both as diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in the field of pulmonary diseases. However, it is mainly used as diagnostic method in lung cancer diagnosis, followed by appropriate sampling procedures including needle aspiration, forceps biopsy, brushing, and washing. We aim to characterize the profile of FOB results including the positivity rate (the rate in which pathology results yield either class IV or class V cells) of each FOB procedure. This is an observational descriptive study using retrospective approach using existing FOB results from our patients. The most common FOB finding was compressive stenosis (35.4%), followed by obstructive (34.8%), and infiltrative stenosis (29.8%). Positivity rate for needle aspiration was 50% for infiltrative and 57.15% for obstructive stenosis; Positivity rate for forceps biopsy was 42.1% for infiltrative and 73.33% for obstructive stenosis; Positivity rate for brushing was 6.66% for compressive, 38.24% for infiltrative, and 25.72% for obstructive stenosis; and positivity rate of washing was 5.36% for compressive, 17.54% for infiltrative, and 6.12% for obstructive stenosis. These results showed that as the main method in lung cancer diagnosis, FOB procedures have excellent results depending on the choice of sampling procedures used based on FOB findings.