PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Neal Navani
AU  - Philip L Molyneaux
AU  - Ronan A Breen
AU  - David W Connell
AU  - Annette Jepson
AU  - Matthew Nankivell
AU  - James M Brown
AU  - Stephen Morris-Jones
AU  - Benjamin Ng
AU  - Melissa Wickremasinghe
AU  - Ajit Lalvani
AU  - Robert C Rintoul
AU  - George Santis
AU  - Onn Min Kon
AU  - Sam M Janes
TI  - Utility of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in patients with tuberculous intrathoracic lymphadenopathy: a multicentre study
AID  - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2011-200063
DP  - 2011 Oct 01
TA  - Thorax
PG  - 889--893
VI  - 66
IP  - 10
4099  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/66/10/889.short
4100  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/66/10/889.full
SO  - Thorax2011 Oct 01; 66
AB  - Background Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) has emerged as an important tool for the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer but its role in the diagnosis of tuberculous intrathoracic lymphadenopathy has not been established. The aim of this study was to describe the diagnostic utility of EBUS-TBNA in patients with intrathoracic lymphadenopathy due to tuberculosis (TB).Methods 156 consecutive patients with isolated intrathoracic TB lymphadenitis were studied across four centres over a 2-year period. Only patients with a confirmed diagnosis or unequivocal clinical and radiological response to antituberculous treatment during follow-up for a minimum of 6 months were included. All patients underwent routine clinical assessment and a CT scan prior to EBUS-TBNA. Demographic data, HIV status, pathological findings and microbiological results were recorded.Results EBUS-TBNA was diagnostic of TB in 146 patients (94%; 95% CI 88% to 97%). Pathological findings were consistent with TB in 134 patients (86%). Microbiological investigations yielded a positive culture of TB in 74 patients (47%) with a median time to positive culture of 16 days (range 3–84) and identified eight drug-resistant cases (5%). Ten patients (6%) did not have a specific diagnosis following EBUS; four underwent mediastinoscopy which confirmed the diagnosis of TB while six responded to empirical antituberculous therapy. There was one complication requiring an inpatient admission.Conclusions EBUS-TBNA is a safe and effective first-line investigation in patients with tuberculous intrathoracic lymphadenopathy.