Evaluation of Predictors of the Effectiveness of Bronchoscopic Biopsies with Navigation by Endobronchial Ultrasound Mini Probes in Peripheral Lung Masses of Various Etiologies

The objective of the study: to evaluate and compare the predictors of effectiveness of navigation bronchobiopsy – radial endobronchial ultrasound with mini probes (rEBUS) in patients with peripheral pulmonary tumors of tuberculosis and oncological origin.

Subjects and Methods. The effectiveness of rEBUS-guided bronchoscopic biopsies and predictors of this effectiveness were retrospectively analyzed in 152 patients (71 men and 81 women) with pulmonary tumors visualized by chest computed tomography (CT) as peripheral lung masses. All patients were divided into 2 groups according to the verified diagnoses: TB Group included 83 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis without bacterial excretion at the time of bronchological examination; NEO Group included 69 patients with pulmonary neoplasms.

In all patients of both groups, a bronchological examination was performed for diagnostic purposes and included several types of biopsies (a set of biopsies): at least one of the liquid biopsies (bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) or bronchial lavage) and one tissue biopsy (transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) or brush biopsy). Specimens of all types of bronchobiopsy were sent for microbiological and cytological tests, and the TBLB samples were additionally sent for histological examination.

Results. The efficiency of diagnosing bronchobiopsy with rEBUS navigation in TB and NEO Groups was comparable – 81.9% (68/83) and 81.2% (56/69) (p_χ2 > 0.05), respectively. The factors (predictors) that statistically significantly influenced on effectiveness of bronchobiopsy in both groups were the following: signs of draining bronchus on chest CT, visualization of the mass in general during rEBUS, central position of the ultrasound probe in the mass during navigation, localization of the mass in the upper lobe of the right lung versus the lower lobe (summarized in two groups).

Additionally for TB Group, the predictor was the size of the mass exceeding 20 mm.

The effectiveness of cytological and histological verification in NEO Group with brush biopsy and TBLB samples significantly surpassed the effectiveness in TB Group, but the microbiological diagnosis of M. tuberculosis in BAL/bronchial lavage specimens increased the effectiveness in TB Group and made it comparable to NEO Group.

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