Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Substernal Thyroid Biopsy Using Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration
Published on: November 10, 2014
Comparison of Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration With Stylet Retracted Partially Versus
Sebastian Fernandez-Bussy1, Abhishek Biswas2, Gonzalo Labarca3
1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic.
Background:
Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is considered to be the initial diagnostic modality for most patients with lung cancer. However, the optimal technique for maximizing yield continues to vary in the real-world setting.
Objectives:
To evaluate the diagnostic yield of EBUS-TBNA with capillary sampling compared with complete stylet removal for molecular testing.
Methods:
Retrospective study, data from patients between January to May 2017 with indication of EBUS-TBNA whom ancillary testing, that is, next-generation sequencing, anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), and programed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression was reviewed. The yield of 2 techniques, stylet retracted halfway (group 1) versus complete retraction (group 2), was compared.
Results:
A total of 24/27 (88.88%) samples were adequate for next-generation sequencing analysis in group 1 and 21/23 (91.30%) in group 2. For other molecular analyses, 24/27 (88.88%) samples in group 1 and 20/23 (86.95%) samples in group 2 were adequate for ALK analysis. 23/27 (85.18%) samples for group 1 and 20/23 (86.95%) samples for group 2 were adequate for PD-L1 analysis. Positive expression of PD-L1>50% was achieved in 9/23 (39.13%) of group 1 and 5/20 (25%) of group 2. There was no statistical difference in the yield between the 2 groups.
Conclusion:
EBUS-TBNA using either capillary sampling or complete stylet removal are effective and has a high proportion of satisfactory results for ancillary testing.
More Related Videos
04:04Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Intratumoral Injection of Cisplatin for the Treatment of Isolated Mediastinal Recurrence of Lung Cancer
Published on: February 12, 2017
06:03Use of Electromagnetic Navigational Transthoracic Needle Aspiration E-TTNA for Sampling of Lung Nodules
Published on: May 23, 2015
Related Concept Videos
Multiple Comparison Tests
It would be easy to compare two samples using a significance alpha level of 0.05. In other words, there is only one sample pair to be compared. However, it would be difficult to identify a significantly different sample if the number...
Molecular Comparison of Gases, Liquids, and Solids
Clot Retraction and Fibrinolysis
Mixtures of Gases: Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures and Mole Fractions
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Molecular Shape and Polarity