Transvascular endosonographic-guided needle biopsy of intrathoracic lesions

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biopsy techniques, including endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA), are currently the standard of care for the assessment of mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Traditionally, passing the needle through and through vascular structures has been avoided owing to the risk of bleeding. In this study, we evaluated the safety and diagnostic accuracy of transvascular endosonographic-guided biopsies of mediastinal, hilar and lung lesions. Our hypothesis is that the approach is safe and adds to the endoscopic armamentarium, avoiding the need for surgical biopsy in specifically selected cases.

One hundred patients who underwent transvascular EBUS- or EUS-guided biopsy between 2012 and 2018 were identified from a prospective interventional endoscopy database.

Biopsy was performed under EUS guidance in 65 patients and under EBUS guidance in 35 patients. The most frequent targets were the mediastinum (60 patients), lung (21 patients), and hilar lymph nodes (16 patients). The aorta was the vessel most commonly traversed (n = 57), followed by the pulmonary artery (n = 33). A median of 2 passes were performed per target (range, 1-5). The samples were adequate to make a diagnosis in 80 patients, and the endoscopic diagnosis was a malignancy in 62 patients. The overall sensitivity was 71.5%, and the accuracy was 74.5%. There were no observed intraoperative or immediate postoperative complications. A delayed complication, aortic pseudoaneurysm, was observed in 1 patient. Follow-up was completed in 84 patients, with a median duration of 12.3 ± 18 months.

Transvascular endosonographic-guided biopsy is an important adjunct to conventional endoscopic techniques and allows the thoracic endoscopist to obtain biopsy specimens from intrathoracic lesions that are not accessible without vascular puncture.