Endoscopic biopsy of the lymph nodes is a minimally invasive, non-surgical intervention that has recently begun to be used to stage lung cancer. The study conducted by Dr. Liberman’s team involved 166 patients with confirmed or suspected non small cell lung cancer, and was designed to compare the new approach to surgical staging under general anesthesia, as prescribed in current guidelines for this type of cancer. The findings, which were recently published in CHEST Journal, the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians, show that the endoscopy approach is not only sensitive and accurate, but also leads to improved staging compared to surgical staging due to its ability to biopsy lymph nodes and metastases not attainable with surgical techniques.
Research protocol
All patients underwent endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and surgical mediastinal staging (SMS) during a single procedure. Each subject served as his or her own control. The results of the EBUS, EUS and combined EBUS/EUS were compared to SMS (gold standard) results and, in patients with negative lymph node staging, to lymph node sampling at pulmonary resection.
source : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140904141807.htm