[Profitability of the bronchoscopy in the diagnosis of focal pulmonary malignant lesions].
BACKGROUND
We define focal pulmonary lesion (FPL) as an intra-parenchymatous pulmonary lesion that is well circumscribed and completely surrounded by healthy lung. It is considered that the profitability of the fine needle aspiration puncture (FNAP) in FPL < or = 2 cm is better than that of the fibrobronchoscopy (FBC).


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the diagnostic profitability of the FNAP in the malignant FPL and study if it varies according to site, size and histology.


METHODS
We analyzed all the FBCs of our Unit between 01/2000 and 12/2001 in patients with solitary FLP < or = 6 cm with a definitive diagnosis of malignancy. The diagnostic profitability by size, site and histology was analyzed with Pearson's chi(2) statistics.


RESULTS
124 patients. Mean FBC per patient was 1.3. A total of 101 cases (82%) were diagnosed with FBC, 15 by thoracotomy and 8 by FNAP. Global diagnostic profitability of the FBC was 0.82 and the transbronchial biopsy 0.76. There are no diagnostic profitability differences by size (< or = 2 cm vs > 2 cm) (0.81 vs 0.82 p = 0.96), site (peripheral vs central) (0.79 vs 0.85 p = 0.41) and histology (epidermoid vs adenocarcinoma) (0.89 vs 0.75 p = 0.21).


CONCLUSIONS
Profitability of the FBC in malignant FPL in our hospital is elevated without differences by size, site or histology. In our site, the initial diagnostic approach of the FLP is done with FBC.
García Quero
C
C
Servicio de Neumología, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, España.
García Luján
R
R
González Torralba
F
F
de Miguel Poch
E
E
Alfaro Abreu
J
J
Villena Garrido
V
V
López Ríos
F
F
López Encuentra
A
A
D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D002283:Carcinoma, Bronchogenic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity