Open AccessEndoscopic ultrasound via the esophagus: A safe and sensitive way for staging mediastinal lymph nodes in lung cancer
Author(s) -
Bodtger Uffe,
Clementsen Paul,
Annema Jouke,
Vilmann Peter
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
thoracic cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1759-7714
pISSN - 1759-7706
DOI - 10.1111/j.1759-7714.2010.00003.x
Subject(s) - medicine , mediastinoscopy , endoscopic ultrasound , lung cancer , radiology , thoracoscopy , mediastinal lymph node , esophagus , gold standard (test) , lung cancer staging , endoscopy , mediastinum , cancer , surgery , oncology , metastasis
Abstract Accurate, safe and fast mediastinal staging in lung cancer is pivotal to identifying patients who will benefit from surgical treatment. Imaging techniques have insufficient diagnostic power and in most cases do not abolish the need for invasive staging. A literature review using the search words “endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and lung cancer” in PubMed was conducted. Invasive procedures (mediastinoscopy, thoracoscopy/‐tomy) are the gold standard. The specificity of EUS was between 97 and 100%, and sensitivity 90 to 92%. The sensitivity was lower in studies published before 2000, and in computed tomography (CT) node‐negative patients. EUS is the cheapest procedure in mediastinal staging. EUS results were associated with survival and reduced the need for invasive procedures to approximately 50% with a complication rate of approximately 0%. EUS is safe, accurate, and has a huge impact on management of mediastinal staging in lung cancer.