The evaluation of clinical usefulness of transbrochoscopic lung biopsy in undefined XXXX : a retrospective study.

@entity1 @entity2416 @entity358 @entity5970 @entity401
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Previous studies mostly focused on the diagnostic accuracy of @entity358 ( @entity358 ) in the diagnosis of @entity401 ( @entity401 ). We aimed to explore the clinical usefulness of @entity358 results in the diagnostic procedure of undefined @entity401 . METHODS: The retrospective analysis included @entity1 undergoing @entity358 for the diagnosis of undefined @entity401 from January 2007 to December 2010. The clinically useful @entity358 was defined as that lead to a specific histopathological diagnosis or that was consistent with the working diagnosis based on existing clinical and radiological data. RESULTS: A total of 664 @entity1 were included in the study. @entity358 failed to obtain lung parenchyma in 155 cases (23.3%). @entity358 was considered clinically helpful in 202 procedures (30.4%), including 114 cases that provided definitive histopathological diagnoses and 88 cases that were consistent with working diagnoses. Among 202 cases of clinically useful TBLBs, the majority were diagnosed as @entity5970 ( @entity5970 ) (67 cases, 33.2%), connective tissue disease-related @entity401 (CTD- @entity401 ) (65, 32.2%) and @entity2416 ( @entity2416 ) (33, 16.3%). Although @entity358 could provide definitive histopathological diagnoses in all cases diagnosed as @entity5970 , only few cases of @entity2416 (7, 21.2% of @entity2416 diagnoses) and CTD- @entity401 (9, 13.8% of CTD-ILD diagnoses) could be identified by TBLBs. CONCLUSION: The clinical usefulness of @entity358 , in conjunction with thorough clinical and radiological data, in the diagnosis of @entity401 may be varied depending on different subtypes. The use of histopathological analysis and the type of biopsy employed should therefore be considered on a case-by-case basis.
