Emad Raddaoui, Esam H Alhamad, Shaesta Naseem Zaidi, Maha Arafah, Fatmah Fahad AlHabeeb
BACKGROUND: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided transbronchial fine-needle aspiration (EBUS-TFNA) is a minimally invasive technique for diagnosis of mediastinal masses/lesions. Although most studies have reported the utility of EBUS-TFNA in malignancy, its use has been extended to the benign conditions as well.
OBJECTIVE: The present study focused on utility of EBUS in contributing to reach the final diagnosis of sarcoidosis.
DESIGN: From May 2010 to December 2013, 19 of 80 patients who underwent EBUS-TFNA at one center for radiologically suspicious lesions for sarcoidosis, and with no definite histological diagnosis, were included in this retrospective study.
RESULTS: When the histological diagnosis was taken as the gold standard, the sensitivity of EBUS-TFNA was 84.2% and specificity 100% with the positive predictive value of 100. The combined diagnostic sensitivity of EBUS-TFNA and transbronchial lung biopsy was 100%.
CONCLUSION: EBUS is a valuable, minimally invasive diagnostic modality to support the diagnosis of sarcoidosis in appropriate clinical setting, after conventional work-up - particularly if patients have suspicious radiological findings. This minimally invasive procedure helps in providing a final diagnosis without exposing the patient to the risk of complications from more invasive procedures.
