The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 76, 266-268, Copyright © 1978 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
The role of bronchoscopy and needle aspiration in the diagnosis of peripheral lung masses
JB Mark, SI Marglin and RA Castellino
Sixty patients underwent flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy and percutaneous
needle aspiration of peripheral lung lesions with fluoroscopic monitoring.
A single general anesthetic was used. We found that percutaneous needle
aspiration was the more accurate of the two procedures in establishing a
diagnosis but that flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy proved complementary in
some instances. The incidence of pneumothorax was 27% but aspiration was
needed in only 8%. There were no other complications. In 84% of patients
with primary carcinoma of the lung presenting as a peripheral lesion, the
diagnosis was established by these procedures. The accuracy was less in
metastatic lesions and considerably less in benign lesions.