title: Morphometrical analysis of transbronchial cryobiopsies.
abstract: The recent introduction of bronchoscopically recovered cryobiopsy of lung tissue has opened up new possibilities in the diagnosis of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lung diseases in various aspects. Most notably the morphological diagnosis of peripheral lung biopsies promises to achieve a better yield with a high quality of specimens. To better understand this phenomenon, its diagnostic options and perspectives, this study morphometrically compares 15 cryobiopsies and 18 transbronchial forceps biopsies of peripheral lung tissue a priori without considering clinical hit ratio or integration of results in the clinical diagnostic processing. Cryotechnically harvested specimens were significantly larger (mean: 17.1 ± 10.7 mm2 versus 3.8 ± 4.0 mm2) and contained alveolar tissue more often. If present, the alveolar part in cryobiopsies exceeded the one of forceps biopsies. The alveolar tissue of crybiopsy specimens did not show any artefacts. Based on these results cryotechnique seems to open up new perspectives in bronchoscopic diagnosis of lung disease.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, HELIOS Klinikum Emil von Behring, Berlin, Germany. sergej.griff@helios-kliniken.de
authors.forename: Sergej
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Griff
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ammenwerth
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schönfeld
authors.forename: Torsten T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mairinger
authors.forename: Torsten-Gerriet
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Blum
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kollmeier
authors.forename: Wolfram
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Grüning
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D003452:Cryosurgery; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli