Diagnostic of mediastinal lymphadenopathy in extrathoracic cancer: A place for EBUS-TBNA in real life practice?

Introduction. - Mediastinal lymphadenopathy in patients with extrathoracic malignancy is common. To obtain tissue proof of metastatic spread, EBUS-TBNA is an alternative to mediastinoscopy or thoracoscopy, but there are limited data about its diagnostic performance. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of EBUS-TBNA for the evaluation of mediastinal lymphadenopathy in patients with extrathoracic cancers. Methods. - We performed a multicenter retrospective study based on an online questionnaire to collect data from January 2011 to December 2012 in all patients with proven extrathoracic malignancy (current or past) and suspected mediastinal lymph node metastases who underwent EBUS-TBNA for diagnosis. Results. - Hundred and eighty-five patients were included. Extrathoracic malignancies observed were urological (43), breast (35), gastrointestinal (33), head and neck (30), melanoma (11), lymphoma (6), and others (27). EBUS-TBNA confirmed malignancy in 93 patients (50.3%): concordant metastases in 67(36.2%); new lung cancer in 25 (13.5%); and 1 unidentified cancer. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value were respectively 54.6%, 68.4%, 100%, 53.3%, and 100%. Conclusion. - Mediastinoscopy remain the reference, but EBUS-TBNA may be considered as first line investigation in patients with suspected mediastinal lymph node metastases and extrathoracic malignancy. It prevented a surgical procedure in 50.3% of patients.