EBUS-TBNA risks and repairs

Severe Pneumomediastinum Complicating EBUS-TBNA

To the Editor: Pneumomediastinum infrequently complicates diagnostic bronchoscopy. Increased airway or alveolar pressure results in air leaks to the mediastinum through existing or induced defects. Excessive cough, recurrent episodes of increased abdominal pressure, vomiting, or sneezing can all induce spontaneous pneumomediastinum. Less commonly it has been documented with lung or neck infecti...

EBUS-TBNA with ROSE-tinted spectacles?

EBUS-TBNA: A Decade of Progress

Roberto F Casal1*, Donald R Lazarus2, Georgie A Eapen1 and Kazuhiro Yasufuku3 1Department of Pulmonary Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 2Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA 3Division of Thoracic Surgery, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Canada *Corr...

The learning curve for EBUS-TBNA.

We read with interest the paper by Kemp and colleagues 1 which utilises cumulative sum (CUSUM) to analyse the learning curves associated with endobronchial ultra-sound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). The retrospective study from five centres demonstrated that variable learning periods are required to attain proficiency in the procedure, and a pooled sensitivity of 67.4% was...

Implementing EBUS TBNA: first experience and review of literature.

Lung cancer has a very dismal prognosis and careful diagnosis and staging is of outmost importance. EBUS has become a cornerstone investigation for diagnosis and staging and current guidelines stress that there is a steep learning curve when introducing this tech- nique in practice (only 30 procedures are considered necessary). Over a period of 10 months a total of 21 patients have been address...