Initial experience with real-time elastography using an ultrasound bronchoscope for the evaluation of mediastinal lymph nodes.

Real-time elastography performed during endoscopic ultrasonography is a relatively new method for characterizing tissue stiffness, and has been used successfully as a predictor of malignancy in mediastinal lymph nodes. This case report describes our practical experience with this technique using an ultrasound bronchoscope to examine mediastinal lymph nodes. We present a case of sectorial endobronchial ultrasound and the first published case of endoscopic ultrasound elastography using ultrasound bronchoscope in two patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma. Qualitative tissue color pattern was obtained in both cases and correlated with pathological evaluation. The initial feasibility results are promising and suggest that ultrasound bronchoscopy techniques, such as guided nodal staging, merit additional studies. It may be important to categorize the risk of malignancy to facilitate sampling decisions.