%0 Journal Article
%T Contribution of cell blocks obtained through endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration to the diagnosis of lung cancer
%A Jos¨¦ Sanz-Santos
%A Pere Serra
%A Felipe Andreo
%A Maria Llatj¨®s
%A Eva Castell¨¤
%A Eduard Mons¨®
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-12-34
%X Patients referred for lung cancer diagnosis and/or staging by means of EBUS-TBNA were enrolled, the adequacy of the obtained samples for preparing cell blocks was assessed, and the additional pathologic or genetic information provided from cell block analysis was examined.In 270 lung cancer patients referred for EBUS-TBNA (mean age, 63.3 SD 10.4 years) 697 aspirations were performed. Cell blocks could be obtained from 334 aspirates (47.9%) and contained diagnostic material in 262 (37.6%) aspirates, providing information that was additional to conventional smears in 50 of the 189 samples with smears that were non-diagnostic, corresponding 21 of these blocks to malignant nodes, and allowing lung cancer subtyping of 4 samples. Overall, cell blocks improved the pathologic diagnosis attained with conventional smears in 54 of the 697 samples obtained with EBUS-TBNA (7.7%). Cell blocks obtained during EBUS-TBNA also made epithelial growth factor receptor mutation analysis possible in 39 of the 64 patients with TBNA samples showing metastatic adenocarcinoma (60.1%). Overall, cell blocks provided clinically significant information for 83 of the 270 patients participating in the study (30.7%).Cell-block preparation from EBUS-TBNA samples is a simple way to provide additional information in lung cancer diagnosis. Analysis of cell blocks increases the diagnostic yield of the procedure by nearly seven per cent and allows for genetic analysis in a sixty per cent of the patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma.With the introduction of novel targeted therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), cytologists have had to cope with a corresponding rise in the need for accurate diagnosis and appropriate classification of subtypes. The analysis of genetic abnormalities in cancer cells, such as mutations in the epithelial grow factor receptor (EGFR) gene [1], has become crucial for the choice of treatment. Thus, conventional cytology staining does not always provide sufficient informa
%K Cell block
%K Endobronchial ultrasound
%K Transbronchial needle aspiration
%K Lung cancer
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/12/34