Clinical Usefulness of Fungal Culture of EBUS-TBNA Needle Rinse Fluid and Core Tissue

Additional EBUS-guided intralesional amphotericin B injection combined systemic intravenous therapy in pulmonary mucormycosis: a case report

Mucormycosis is an invasive fungal infection that can result in severe lung infections, with pulmonary mucormycosis (PM) being one of the most prevalent manifestations. Prompt diagnosis is crucial for patient survival, as PM often exhibits rapid clinical progression and carries a high fatality rate. Broncho-alveolar lavage fluid or endobronchial biopsy (EBB) has been commonly employed for diagnosing PM, although there is limited mention of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) in the literature. In this report, we present a case of PM in a patient with diabetes. While EBB did not yield evidence of Rhizopus infection, a definitive diagnosis was obtained through EBUS-TBNA. The patient underwent combination therapy, including oral medication, nebulization, and EBUS-guided intrafocal amphotericin B injection, which resulted in significant improvement following the failure of initial therapy with amphotericin B injection cholesterol sulfate complex. Our case highlights the potential of EBUS-TBNA not only for mediastinal lymphadenopathy but also for obtaining extraluminal lesion specimens. Furthermore, for patients with an inadequate response to mono-therapy and no access to surgical therapy, the addition of EBUS-guided intralesional amphotericin B injection to systemic intravenous therapy may yield unexpected effects.

Clinical utility of EBUS-TBNA of hilar, interlobar, and lobar lymph nodes in patients with primary lung cancer

Background

Endobronchial ultrasound‐guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS‐TBNA) is used to evaluate hilar/interlobar/lobar lymph nodes. This study aimed to assess the clinical utility of EBUS‐TBNA for station 10/11/12 lymph nodes (LNs) in patients with primary lung cancer.

Methods

This was a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database of patients with primary lung cancer who underwent EBUS‐TBNA for station 10/11/12 LNs from January 2015 to December 2019. Patients with benign results from EBUS‐TBNA who did not undergo surgical sampling/clinical follow‐up or who received radiotherapy/chemotherapy were excluded.

Results

The analyses were conducted on 889 LNs from 797 patients. The overall diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, negative predictive value (NPV), and positive predictive value of EBUS‐TBNA were 95.7, 100, 97.3, 93.2, and 100%, respectively. Diagnostic sensitivity was significantly lower for LNs <10 mm than ≥10 mm in size (90.1% vs. 97.8%; p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in diagnostic performance according to the nodal station (10 vs. 11/12) and left‐ versus right‐sided LNs. The diagnostic sensitivity (100 vs. 95.5%; p = 0.221) and specificity (100 vs. 100%) of N3 LNs was not significantly different from those of N1 LNs. In this study, eight (8/91, 8.8%) patients with cN1 NSCLC received neoadjuvant treatment based on the results of EBUS‐TBNA.

Conclusion

EBUS‐TBNA accurately evaluates station 10/11/12 LNs of both N1 and N3 disease. The diagnostic performances of EBUS‐TBNA for station 10/11/12 LNs seem to be comparable to those of EBUS‐TBNA for mediastinal LNs.

A decade of change: Trends in the practice of cytopathology at a tertiary care cancer centre

OBJECTIVES

The practice of cytopathology has evolved over the past decade with a growing need for doing more with less tissue. Changes in clinical practice guidelines and evolving needs in tissue acquisition for diagnosis and treatment have affected various areas of cytopathology in different ways. In this study, we evaluated the changing trends in cytopathological practice at our institution over the past decade.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective review of our institutional database for cytopathology cases from calendar years 2009 (n = 28038) and 2019 (n = 31386) to evaluate the changing trends in practice.

RESULTS

The overall number of exfoliative cases decreased 10% over the past decade, primarily due to a 64% decrease in gynaecological Pap testing. However, the volume of serous body cavity and cerebrospinal fluids increased 125% and 44%, respectively. The overall volume of fine needle aspiration (FNA) cases increased 38% from 2009 to 2019. The number of FNA cases increased across most body sites, driven primarily by a 180% increase in endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration cases. In contrast, breast FNA volume decreased 43%. Ancillary studies increased substantially over the past decade, including immunostains (476%) and molecular testing (250%).

CONCLUSIONS

The trends in our cytopathological practice showed an increased volume of cases, especially in non-gynaecological specimens. As expected, the number of FNA cases used for immunostains and molecular testing increased substantially, indicating an upward trend in ancillary studies in cytopathological practice.