Cost-effectiveness and safety of mediastinal transbronchial cryobiopsy guided by endobronchial ultrasonography (CRYO-EBUS) in 110 cases | Rentabilidad y seguridad de la criobiopsia transbronquial mediastínica guiada por ultrasonografía endobronquial (CRYO

Abstract

Introduction: Transbronchial needle aspiration guided by endobronchial ultrasonography (EBUSTBNA) has the disadvantage of sometimes offering samples of an unsuitable size for an accurate histo-molecular diagnosis. Transbronchial mediastinal cryobiopsy (CRYOEBUS) is a very novel and additional technique to EBUS-TBNA that allows us to obtain larger and quality samples, improving diagnostic performance. Material and methods: Descriptive study of 110 patients with lesions and/or mediastinal lymphadenopathy who underwent EBUS-TBNA and CRYO-EBUS in a single procedure. Our objective was to analyze the diagnostic profitability and safety of the technique. Results: CRYO-EBUS obtained samples of 0.42 cm on average compared to 0.14 cm obtained by EBUS-TBNA. The overall diagnostic performance of the techniques was 60% for EBUS-TBNA and 94.5% for CRYO-EBUS. Furthermore, the latter was more sensitive for the diagnosis of both malignant and benign diseases. With a very high security profile. Conclusions: The CRYO-EBUS technique is cost-effective and safe, and is superior to EBUS-TBNA. Future studies may confirm our findings.