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Updated: Oct 14, 2025
Substernal Thyroid Biopsy Using Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration
Published on: November 10, 2014
Is endobronchial ultrasound-transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) reliable and safe procedure in geriatric
Aslıhan Gürün Kaya1, Aydın Çiledağ2, Serhat Erol2
1Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, 06620, Ankara, Turkey. agkaya@ankara.edu.tr.
Background:
Even though studies have indicated the usefulness and safety of endobronchial ultrasound-transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA), elderly patient data are limited due to the small sample sizes.
Aim:
We aimed to evaluate usage and safety of EBUS-TBNA in elderly population.
Methods:
This single-center retrospective study was conducted with patients who underwent an EBUS-TBNA procedure between September 2011 and December 2019. The patients were categorized into two groups: those aged 65 years or older (elderly group) and those younger than 65 years (younger group).
Results:
2444 patient data, 1069 of which were in the elderly group, were analyzed. The cytological examination of EBUS-TBNA identified specimen adequacy in 96.8% of patients. One hundred and thirty patients (5.3%) experienced complications, with similar complication rates recorded in both the elderly and younger groups (5.4% vs 5.2%, p: 0.836). Logistic regression analyses revealed that age, and presence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease and malignancy are associated significantly with complication-related EBUS-TBNA. For the lymph nodes with a final diagnosis of malignancy, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of EBUS-TBNA revealed a diagnostic performance in excess of 90% except for metastasis and lymphoma.
Conclusion:
EBUS-TBNA can be considered a safe and effective technique in patients aged 65 years and over.
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