title: Transbronchial cryobiopsy in diffuse parenchymal lung diseases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The diagnostic yield of conventional transbronchial lung biopsy varies among various parenchymal lung diseases: in pulmonary sarcoidosis and lymphangitis carcinomatosa, a diagnosis can be obtained in up to 80% of patients; this method is considered inadequate, however, in identifying more complex histological patterns such as usual interstitial pneumonitis or nonspecific interstitial pneumonitis, mainly because the specimens are tiny and the interpretation is confounded by crush artifacts. Recently, the use of cryoprobes has achieved a significant impact on this issue. This review is about this promising application of cryobiopsy in the diagnostic process of diffuse parenchymal lung diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Recent studies document that with transbronchial cryobiopsies, the diagnosis of usual interstitial pneumonitis can be made confidently by pathologists with a good interobserver agreement. Pneumothorax is the main complication (reported in up to one-quarter of cases in some series); bronchial bleeding is usually controlled using Fogarty balloon.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Transbronchial cryobiopsy is a promising new technique that may become a valid alternative to surgical lung biopsy in the near feature.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Diseases of the Thorax, Azienda USL Romagna, GB Morgagni Hospital, Forlì, Italy bDepartment of Respiratory Diseases and Allergy, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Venerino
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Poletti
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ravaglia
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomassetti
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D006470:Hemorrhage; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000473:pathology*