Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Apr;60(4):388-91.
doi: 10.1136/jcp.2006.038901. Epub 2006 Jun 30.

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and liquid-based thin-layer cytology

W A H Wallace  1 , H M Monaghan, D M Salter, M A Gibbons, K M Skwarski
Affiliations

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and liquid-based thin-layer cytology

W A H Wallace et al. J Clin Pathol. 2007 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Optimal management of patients with lung cancer requires accurate cell typing of tumours and staging at the time of diagnosis. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided lymph node aspiration as a method of diagnosing and staging lung cancer is a relatively new technique.

Aim: To report the use of liquid-based-thin-layer cytology for the processing and reporting of these specimens.

Methods: The specimens obtained from 80 patients were processed using the ThinPrep system, with the remainder of the samples being processed as a cell block.

Results: 40 of the 81 procedures yielded malignant cells (30 non-small cell carcinoma, 8 small-cell carcinoma and 2 combined small-cell carcinoma/non-small-cell carcinoma). The cell blocks were found to contain sufficient material to allow the immunohistochemical characterisation of tumour cells with a range of antibodies.

Conclusion: The use of liquid-based-thin-layer cytological techniques provides high-quality specimens for diagnostic purposes. When used in conjunction with cell blocks, sufficient material may be obtained to allow immunohistochemical studies to confirm the tumour cell type. Given the current move towards centralisation of pathology services, this approach gives the pathologist high-quality specimens without the need for direct onsite support at the time of the procedure.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: KMS has received equipment and educational grants for travel from KeyMed (Medical and Industrial Equipment) WAHW, HMM, DMS and MAG have no financial or other interests in the material published.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network Management of patients with lung cancer. A national clinical guideline. Edinburgh, 2005. http://www.sign.ac.uk (accessed 10 Feb 2007)
    1. Kerr K M, Lamb D, Wathan C G.et al Pathological assessment of mediastinal lymph nodes in lung cancer: implications for non‐invasive mediastinal staging. Thorax 199247337–341. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Roberts J R, Blum M G, Arilsden R.et al Prospective comparison of radiologic, thoracoscopic and pathologic staging in patients with early non‐small cell lung cancer. Ann Thorac Surg 1999681154–1158. - PubMed
    1. Shim S S, Lee K S, Kim B T.et al Non‐small cell lung cancer: prospective comparison of integrated FDG PET/CT and CT alone for preoperative staging. Radiology 20052361011–1019. - PubMed
    1. de Langen A J, Raijmakers P, Riphagen I.et al The size of mediastinal lymph nodes and its relation with metastatic involvement: a meta analysis. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 20062926–29. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms