The role of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in the diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders.

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a minimally invasive bronchoscopic technique included in the initial diagnostic workup of mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy and masses of unknown etiology. The value of EBUS-TBNA in the diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) is not well established. LPD diagnosis requires lymph node sampling for pathologic and flow cytometry analysis. Are the samples obtained by EBUSTBNA good enough to provide the diagnosis of LPD? The usefulness of EBUS-TBNA in the diagnosis of LPD in patients with lymph nodes or mediastinal masses and clinical suspicion of LPD was evaluated. One hundred and eighty nine patients underwent EBUSTBNA to investigate the etiology of MLN between 2009 and 2012. The suspicion of LPD was based on past history of lymphoma or clinical manifestations and associated with unexplained lymph nodes. EBUS-TBNA biopsies were performed under general anesthesia. The ecoendoscope used was the Olympus-BF-TYPE-UC-180F, with a convex transducer (7.5 MHz) and integrated Doppler mode. A dedicated