Endobronchial cryobiopsy or forceps biopsy for lung cancer diagnosis.
BACKGROUND
Invasive procedures such as bronchoscopic biopsy, bronchial washing, and bronchial brushing are widely used in diagnosis of lung cancers. The mean diagnostic rate with bronchoscopic forceps biopsy is 74% in central tumors. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of cryobiopsies in histopathological diagnosis.


METHODS
Forty-one patients who had interventional bronchoscopy were included in this study. Three forceps biopsies and one cryobiopsy with cryorecanalization probe were obtained from each subject. Biopsies interpretations were done by one expert pathologist.


RESULTS
Hemorrhage was the only complication in both procedures. There was no significant difference between these two procedures in the incidence of hemorrhage (P > 0.05). Mean diameters of samples taken with forceps biopsy and cryoprobe biopsy were 0.2 and 0.8 cm, respectively (P < 0.001). Thirty-two patients (78%) were diagnosed with forceps biopsies, and 38 patients (92.7%) were diagnosed with cryoprobe biopsies (P = 0.031).


CONCLUSIONS
We concluded that cryoprobe biopsies were more successful than forceps biopsies in diagnosis. Nevertheless, further investigations are warranted to determine an efficacy of cryoprobe biopsy procedures and a rationale to use as a part of routine flexible bronchoscopy.
Aktas
Zafer
Z
Department of Chest Diseases, Ataturk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Gunay
Ersin
E
Hoca
Nevin Taci
NT
Yilmaz
Aydin
A
Demirag
Funda
F
Gunay
Sibel
S
Sipit
Tugrul
T
Kurt
Emine Bahar
EB