Preyas J Vaidya

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration: Safe as it sounds

Real‐time endobronchial ultrasound‐guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS‐TBNA) has earned its place as a standard of care in the evaluation of mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy. It is a minimally invasive and a safe procedure with high diagnostic accuracy and efficacy. The increased usage of EBUS‐TBNA worldwide has thrown light on its possible complications including death. The complications range from minor to life threatening in few and may occur either early or later in the course after the procedure. The present review summarizes the reported complications from EBUS‐TBNA, their outcome and the modalities used for their management.

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration in lung cancer diagnosis and staging.

Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the world. A complete diagnosis of lung cancer involves tissue acquisition for pathological subtype, molecular diagnosis and accurate staging of the disease to guide appropriate therapy. Real-time endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is minimally invasive and relatively safe procedure, which can be done on an outpatient basis under moderate sedation. EBUS-TBNA has been shown to be a safe modality to obtain tissue for diagnosis, staging and molecular profiling in lung cancer. EBUS-TBNA stands out in comparison with other modalities for tissue acquisition in lung cancer. EBUS-TBNA performed with the patient under moderate sedation yields sufficient tissue for sequential molecular analysis in most patients. In this review, we describe the role of EBUS-TBNA in various aspects of diagnosis and staging of lung cancer in the present era along with its future aspects.

Combined prednisolone and pirfenidone in bleomycin-induced lung disease

Bleomycin is a cytostatic drug commonly employed in the treatment of Hodgkins disease, seminomas, and choriocarcinoma. Bleomycin may induce a chronic pulmonary inflammation that may progress to fibrosis. So far, only corticosteroids have been used in the treatment of bleomycin-induced lung disease with variable results. Pirfenidone is an antifibrotic drug that has been approved for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We report two cases of bleomycin-induced lung disease treated successfully with pirfenidone and oral corticosteroids.

The evolution of flexible bronchoscopy: From historical luxury to utter necessity!!

Lung India • Vol 32 • Issue 3 • May Jun 2015 After the newer classification of idiopathic interstitial pneumonias and the development of novel treatment options, it is important to subtype an interstitial lung disease to optimize the management. BAL, endobronchial and transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) can help subtype the interstitial lung disease when used in the correct clinical setting.[10] A differential and subset cytology of a bronchoalveolar lavage may help in diagnosing eosinophilic pneumonias and sarcoidosis.[8]

Utility of Transcutaneous Capnography for Optimization of Non-Invasive Ventilation Pressures.

INTRODUCTION Nocturnal Non-invasive Positive Pressure Ventilation (NPPV) is the treatment of choice in patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure due to hypoventilation. Continuous oxygen saturation measured with a pulse oximeter provides a surrogate measure of arterial oxygen saturation but does not completely reflect ventilation. Currently, Partial Pressure of Arterial (PaCO2) measured by arterial blood analysis is used for estimating the adequacy of ventilatory support and serves as the gold standard. AIM To examine the safety, feasibility and utility of cutaneous capnography to re-titrate the non-invasive positive pressure ventilation settings in patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure due to hypoventilation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twelve patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure prospectively underwent complete polysomnography and cutaneous capnography measurement on the ear lobe. Non-invasive ventilation pressures were adjusted with the aim of normalizing cutaneous carbon dioxide or at least reducing it by 10 to 15 mmHg. Sensor drift for cutaneous carbon dioxide of 0.7 mmHg per hour was integrated in the analysis. RESULTS Mean baseline cutaneous carbon dioxide was 45.4 ± 6.5 mmHg and drift corrected awake value was 45.1 ± 8.3 mmHg. The correlation of baseline cutaneous carbon dioxide and the corrected awake cutaneous carbon dioxide with arterial blood gas values were 0.91 and 0.85 respectively. Inspiratory positive airway pressures were changed in nine patients (75%) and expiratory positive airway pressures in eight patients (66%). Epworth sleepiness score before and after the study showed no change in five patients, improvement in six patients and deterioration in one patient. CONCLUSION Cutaneous capnography is feasible and permits the optimization of non-invasive ventilation pressure settings in patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure due to hypoventilation. Continuous cutaneous capnography might serve as an important additional tool to complement diurnal arterial carbon dioxide tension values.

Multimodality management of primary diaphragmatic synovial sarcoma: First report

Synovial cell sarcoma is an extremely rare tumor of mesenchymal origin. It commonly affects the soft tissues of the extremities but could possibly origin from the head and neck, heart, lung, pleura, mediastinum, esophagus, abdominal wall and the mesentery, and retroperitoneum. Primary synovial sarcoma of pleura, mediastinum, and lung have been reported. Primary synovial sarcoma of the diaphragm has not been reported to the best of our knowledge. We report a case of primary synovial cell sarcoma of the diaphragm presenting as a recurrent pleural effusion and pain in the left hypochondrium managed with multimodality approach.

Bronchoscopic and surgical management of rare endobronchial tumors

Pure endobronchial neoplasms are a rare entity, and they may present with diverse pathological findings. Malignant diseases are more common than benign ones, and they mostly originate from the surface epithelium. Endobronchial tumors usually present with symptoms such as cough, hemoptysis, recurrent pneumonia, wheezing, and chest pain. Flexible bronchoscopy is necessary for diagnosis and evaluation of these endobronchial tumors. Advance bronchoscopy or definitive surgery is the modality of treatment for these tumors based on the presentation. We present a case series of patients suffering from different rare endobronchial tumors and their management along with the review of literature.

ALK positivity on pleuroscopic pleural biopsy in lung adenocarcinoma

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, and around 75% to 80% of lung cancers are detected in advanced stage. Multiple genetic mutations are identified and reported in adenocarcinoma of the lung. Various pulmonary samples can be tested for molecular mutations in lung cancer. However, feasibility of molecular profiling of pleuroscopic pleural biopsies in lung adenocarcinoma is not reported. We describe a case of advanced adenocarcinoma of lung with positive anaplastic lymphoma tyrosine kinase mutation on pleuroscopic pleural biopsy and improved with oral crizotinib. The current case highlights the feasibility of pleuroscopy.-guided pleural biopsies in molecular profiling of lung adenocarcinoma.

Diagnostic value of core biopsy histology and cytology sampling of mediastinal lymph nodes using 21-gauge EBUS-TBNA needle

INTRODUCTION Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is the initial modality of choice in sampling mediastinal lymphadenopathy. It is possible to obtain both cytological and histological samples using both 21-gauge and 22-gauge EBUS-TBNA needles. The current study was undertaken to compare the diagnostic yield of cytology and histology samples obtained by the same EBUS-TBNA 21-gauge needle. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred sixty-six consecutive patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA with a 21-gauge EBUS-TBNA needle over a period of 3 years were included in this retrospective analysis. The diagnostic yields of EBUS-TBNA histology (EBUS-TBNA-H) and EBUS-TBNA cytology (EBUS-TBNA-C) specimens were compared using the McNemar test. RESULTS The overall sensitivity and specificity of EBUS-TBNA were 89% and 100%, respectively. The positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of EBUS-TBNA were 100% and 53%, respectively. The overall sensitivity and specificity of EBUS-TBNA-H were 85% and 100%, respectively. The PPV and NPV of EBUS-TBNA-H were 100% and 43%, respectively. The overall sensitivity and specificity of EBUS-TBNA-C were 65% and 100%, respectively. The PPV and NPV of EBUS-TBNA-C were 100% and 14%, respectively. The diagnostic yield of EBUS-TBNA-H over EBUS-TBNA-C was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION EBUS-TBNA-H with 21-gauge needle significantly improves the diagnostic yield of EBUS-TBNA. EBUS-TBNA-H improves the NPV of EBUS-TBNA. The combination of EBUS-TBNA-H and EBUS-TBNA-C improves the overall diagnostic yield of EBUS-TBNA.