Endobronchial inflammatory polyp as a rare complication of endobronchial ultrasound-transbronchial needle aspiration

Abstract

Endobronchial ultrasound-transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) offers a minimally invasive option for staging the mediastinum in suspected lung cancer but also in the diagnosis of mediastinal lesions accessible from the airways. EBUS-TBNA has been widely used for the evaluation of mediastinal and hilar lesions for several reasons, such as its minimally invasive nature, high diagnostic accuracy, needle aspiration under real-time visualization and excellent safety profile. Several recent studies have demonstrated that EBUS-TBNA have diagnostic accuracy equivalent to mediastinoscopy and in fact higher for certain lymph node stations. The present case report presents endobronchial inflammatory polyp as a complication after EBUS-TBNA in patients with tuberculous lymphadenitis and discusses the possible etiology of this complication, as well as implications for further application of this technology in patients with tuberculous lymphadenitis. © 2010 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery.