Researchers find less invasive, highly accura...(passes a small needle through the trache...),Health

In the mid-1990s, another non-invasive method of scoping known as endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) was used to stage lung cancer. This scope, which uses a flexible tube with an ultrasound probe, has long been used to look for and sample tumors in the gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Wallace and others adapted it for use in lung cancer staging because they realized the probe, in the esophagus, could provide a clear image of the lymph nodes behind the lungs. In this procedure, physicians guide a very small needle into the lymph node to take a biopsy (a procedure called fine needle aspiration). But while extremely safe and accurate for lymph nodes in the back of the chest, the EUS scope could not biopsy lymph nodes in the front of the chest.

Four years ago, a new type of staging probe was developed that is a smaller version of EUS and is used in the airway. This one, the endobronchial ultrasound probe (EBUS), can view the front and sides of the lungs. Based on the complementary nature of the two procedures, Mayo Clinic researchers began testing in 2005 the use of both instruments together in the belief that patients would benefit from a comprehensive view of the lymph nodes surrounding their lungs.

To find out which of the scoping methods was most beneficial, 138 patients with lung cancer agreed to be tested with three methods: TBNA, EUS, and EBUS. These procedures were all performed in one session in which a patient was lightly sedated. TBNA and EBUS were performed first by one or two pulmonologists (lung specialists), who then left the procedure room, and then gastroenterologists (who had expertise in endoscopy via the esophagus) performed the EUS. The study was performed using the most rigorous double blind method so that ea
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