Thorax
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Clinical Trial
Oesophageal endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration improves and simplifies the staging of lung cancer.
Positron emission tomography (PET) is accurate for mediastinal staging of lung cancer but has a moderate positive predictive value, necessitating pathological verification. Endoscopic ultrasonography with fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is a technique for tissue verification of mediastinal and upper retroperitoneal abnormalities. The use of EUS-FNA may decrease the number of surgical procedures and thereby staging costs. ⋯ EUS-FNA can replace more than half of the surgical staging procedures in lung cancer patients with mediastinal and/or upper retroperitoneal PET hot spots, thereby saving 40% of staging costs.