title: The role of bronchoscopy and needle aspiration in the diagnosis of peripheral lung masses.
abstract: Sixty patients underwent flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy and percutaneous needle aspiration of peripheral lung lesions with fluoroscopic monitoring. A single general anesthetic was used. We found that percutaneous needle aspiration was the more accurate of the two procedures in establishing a diagnosis but that flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy proved complementary in some instances. The incidence of pneumothorax was 27% but aspiration was needed in only 8%. There were no other complications. In 84% of patients with primary carcinoma of the lung presenting as a peripheral lesion, the diagnosis was established by these procedures. The accuracy was less in metastatic lesions and considerably less in benign lesions.
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis