Shoaib Naiyar Hashmi, Azhar Mubarik, Ayaz Hussain Qureshi, Waseem Saeed, Aamir Ijaz.
Role of Endobronchial Biopsy in the diagnosis of Lung Diseases.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;12(10):628-30.

Objective: To evaluate pulmonary lesions that can be diagnosed with endobronchial biopsy (EBB) along with common problems encountered during their histological interpretation and to compare the compatibility between the clinical and histological diagnosis. Design: An hospital based retrospective study carried out in consecutive endobronchial biopsies received from affiliated hospitals. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the department of pathology, army medical college, Rawalpindi and department of chest medicine, military hospital, Rawalpindi during July, 2000 to June, 2001. Subjects and Methods: Eighty-eight endobronchial biopsies obtained from serving and retired military personnel, their dependents as well as civilians living in Rawalpindi and surrounding areas, fixed in 10% formaldehyde, routinely processed and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. In selected cases special staining was also performed. Results: These biopsies were taken from 80 males and 8 females. The age of the patients varied from 15 years to 90 years with a median age of 57 years. Fifty-five patients were clinically suspected to be suffering from carcinoma lung, whereas tuberculosis was provisional diagnosis in 20 cases. The differential diagnosis included both tuberculosis and malignancy in 10 cases. The histology revealed malignancy in 45 patients whereas tuberculosis was diagnosed in only 6 patients. Aspergillosis was present in 4 cases whereas chronic nonspecific inflammation was found in 25 patients. The sampling was inadequate in only 5 cases. In cases of malignancies the positive tissue diagnosis was 82% but in cases of suspected pulmonary tuberculosis the histological diagnosis was only 30%. Conclusion: Endobronchial biopsy is a fairly reliable method for diagnosis of malignancies of lung and certain infections like tuberculosis and fungal infection. However, pulmonologist should keep in mind the limitations of this procedure in diagnosing certain conditions like idiopathic interstitial pneumonia.

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