[Peripheral bronchopulmonary cancers. Diagnostic efficiency of fibroscopic samples. Prospective study on 561...

The purpose of this french multicentric study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of samples collected by fibroscopy in peripheral lung cancer with normal endoscopy. Five hundred and sixty-one patients entered the study; a tumour had been diagnosed in 350 of them (62 p. 100). Among these 350 patients, 147 were examined with the help of a light-amplifier screen, and a positive diagnosis was made in 97 (66 p. 100). Guided sample collection in the pathological area (biopsy, brushing, transcatheter aspiration) proved much more rewarding than unguided sample collection (biopsy of the bronchus, simple aspiration or cytology of 3-day sputum): 45 p. 100 positive results versus 18 p. 100 (P less than 0.001). However, sputum cytology still had good diagnostic value since it provided by itself the diagnosis in 14 p. 100 of the cases. Results were significantly inferior in tumours less than 3 cm in diameter.