Comparison of bronchial brushing, washing and forceps biopsies in diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma

Five hundred eighty patients underwent diagnostic flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy: during June ۱۹۸۸ to March ۱۹۹۳ at the bronchoscopy center of Kerman university of medical sciences. Seventy six specimens were obtained from patients with bronchogenic carcinoma and ۱۵۵ from patients with benign disease of the lung. The efficiency of brushing and washing techniques was compared with forceps biopsy ( gold standard). The diagnostic sensitivity for bronchogenic carcinoma was ۴۲.۸℅ and ۶۶.۶℅ for washing and brushing methods respectively. The specificity was ۹۹.۴℅ and ۱۰۰℅ respectively. Bronchial washing specimens apparently did not increase the diagnosis yield of brushing technique and could therefore, be eliminated as an unnecessary cost and time consuming procedure. These findings are consistent with the view that after forceps biopsies the brushing technique is relatively most accurate for cytodiagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma.

Keywords:

Bronchoscopy , bronchogenic carcinoma , Diagnosis , diagnostic validity