Introduction:

Linear endobronchial ultrasound with transbronchial fine needle aspiration is a novel technique for the diagnosis of tumors and mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes.

Objective:

To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of linear endobronchial ultrasound with transbronchial fine needle aspiration as a method of studying hila and mediastinal lesions.

Methods:

A prospective descriptive study was carried out in 49 patients who underwent linear endobronchial ultrasound with transbronchial fine needle aspiration.

Results:

The diagnosis was obtained by histology and 48 patients were positive, 45 of them resulted positive by linear endobronchial ultrasound with transbronchial fine needle aspiration and 4 resulted negative by this study. The overall result of the investigation showed a sensitivity of 93.8%, specificity 100%, a positive predictive value of 100% and a negative predictive value of 25%. Thus, the validity index of linear endobronchial ultrasound with transbronchial fine needle aspiration was 93.8%. The number of complications was minimal.

Conclusions:

Linear endobronchial ultrasound with transbronchial fine needle aspiration is an effective and safe diagnostic method in the study of patients with hilar and mediastinal lesions with high suspicion of lung cancer and, consecutively, it is an alternative to access the mediastinum in a non- invasive approach for lymph node staging.

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