Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Substernal Thyroid Biopsy Using Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration
Published on: November 10, 2014
How Many Passes Are Needed for Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration for Sarcoidosis? A
Masahide Oki1, Hideo Saka1, Masahiko Ando2
1Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Japan.
Background:
While endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is widely used as an initial diagnostic procedure for pathological confirmation of sarcoidosis, it is unclear how many passes are required to obtain diagnostic materials.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to determine the number of needle passes needed for the diagnosis of stage I/II sarcoidosis using EBUS-TBNA.
Methods:
At three institutions, 109 patients with suspected stage I/II sarcoidosis were recruited and underwent 6 passes of EBUS-TBNA for the main target lesion. Additional EBUS-TBNA for other lesions was permitted. The cumulative yields of needle passes for detecting noncaseating epithelioid cell granulomas were analyzed.
Results:
A total of 109 patients underwent EBUS-TBNA for 184 lesions. EBUS-TBNA identified specimens containing granulomas in 81 of 92 patients (88%) with a final diagnosis of sarcoidosis. The cumulative yields through the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth passes for the main target lesion were 63, 75, 82, 85, 86 and 88%, respectively. In the 55 patients that underwent EBUS-TBNA for multiple lesions, the cumulative yields of 2 passes per lesion for 2 lesions (total of 4 passes) and of 4 passes for single lesions were 86 and 84%, respectively (p = 1.00).
Conclusions:
If rapid on-site cytological evaluation is not available, we recommend at least 4 passes per patient for either single or multiple lesions with EBUS-TBNA for pathological diagnosis of stage I/II sarcoidosis.
More Related Videos
06:03Use of Electromagnetic Navigational Transthoracic Needle Aspiration E-TTNA for Sampling of Lung Nodules
Published on: May 23, 2015
04:04Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Intratumoral Injection of Cisplatin for the Treatment of Isolated Mediastinal Recurrence of Lung Cancer
Published on: February 12, 2017
Related Concept Videos
First Pass Effect
Depending on the route of administration, drugs can be metabolized in the liver, intestine, lungs, and vasculature. Orally administered drugs are first absorbed through the...
Single-pass Transmembrane Proteins
Factors Influencing Bioavailability: First-Pass Elimination
Ultrasound II: Endoscopic Ultrasound and FibroScan
Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS):
Insertion of Single-pass Transmembrane Proteins in the RER
Integral transmembrane proteins possess transmembrane and extra membrane domains. The transmembrane domains are primarily made of 20-25 hydrophobic amino acids arranged in a helical secondary confirmation. These...
Insertion of Multi-pass Transmembrane Proteins in the RER
The multipass transmembrane proteins are the type IV integral membrane proteins with multiple topogenic sequences determining their spatial arrangement in the ER membrane. Nearly all multipass proteins lack a cleavable signal sequence and use...