Safety and accuracy of transbronchial lung cryobiopsy in diagnosing desquamative interstitial pneumonia

Abstract

Introduction: Transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) is a new technique to obtain specimens for diagnosis of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in recent years. The objective of this study is to evaluate the safety and the diagnostic accuracy of TBLC in patients of desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP). Methods: In this study twelve patients confirmed with DIP were selected from January 2019 to December 2020 at the department of pulmonary and critical care medicine in China-Japan Friendship Hospital. All cases underwent TBLC in a hybrid cone beam CT (CBCT) operation room with a single general anesthesia. The definitive diagnosis was made by a multidisciplinary team that involved clinicians, radiologists and pathologists. This study analyzed the biopsy sample surface areas, main complications and the consistency between TBLC pathology and multidisciplinary discussion (MDD) diagnosis for DIP. Results: An average of 3.1 ± 1.1 specimens were obtained per patient. The mean surface area of the specimen was 23.7 ± 6.1 mm2. None of the cases had pneumothorax or massive hemorrhage. Ten cases (83.3%) had no or mild bleeding and two cases (16.7%) had moderate bleeding. All cases had the typical pathologic characteristics of DIP, which was highly consistent with the diagnosis of MDD. Conclusion: TBLC can obtain sufficient samples for the pathological diagnosis of DIP, which has high security and accuracy in experienced specialist centers.