Endobronchial Ultrasound Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) for Diagnosis of Mediastinal and Hilar Masses.

Abstract

To determine the sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values, and diagnostic accuracy of Endobronchial Ultrasound Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). Across-sectional validation study. Department of Histopathology, Army Medical College, in collaboration with Department of Pulmonology, Military Hospital Rawalpindi, from March 2014 to March 2015. Cases of EBUS-TBNAcomprised of both TBNAs and cell block/biopsy of the same patients. Diagnosis was made on the TBNAslides and cell block/biopsy material. Taking biopsy/cell block as the gold standard, the data was analysed to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values, and diagnostic accuracy of EBUSTBNA. The sensitivity of EBUS-TBNAwas found to be 96.5%; whereas, specificity and positive predictive values were 100%. The negative predictive value was calculated at 50%. Diagnostic accuracy of the procedure was found to be 96.67%. EBUS-TBNA is a sensitive and a specific test and is accurate in diagnosing mediastinal and hilar pathologies.