Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is an advance in bronchoscopy. It is a staging tool for nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) but also allows diagnosis of unexplained mediastinal lymphadenopathy due to malignant and benign disease. It is a minimally invasive procedure that is used to stage suspected NSCLC with hilar nodes, discrete N2 or N3 disease, or bulky mediastinal disease. After a negative EBUS-TBNA result, if the pretest probability of lung cancer is high, a mediastinoscopy is still recommended, although in the light of recent trial data this is likely to change. EBUS-TBNA is expensive, which may limit its development in resource-rationed health care systems. Conventional (without ultrasound) transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) still has a useful role in lung cancer staging, especially where EBUS-TBNA is not available; it can help avoid unnecessary mediastinoscopies.