Ef. Haponik et al., EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE IMPROVE TRANSBRONCHIAL NEEDLE ASPIRATION PERFORMANCE, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 151(6), 1995, pp. 1998-2002
Citations number
25
Categorie Soggetti
Emergency Medicine & Critical Care","Respiratory System
To determine whether the diagnostic yield of transbronchial needle asp
iration (TBNA) improves over time and to obtain insights about factors
influencing its performance, we reviewed our experience during a 3-yr
period. After serial multifaceted educational interventions directed
toward bronchoscopists and their technical staff, TBNA yield increased
significantly from 21.4 to 47.6% (p < 0.001). More frequent and more
detailed notations in bronchoscopy reports (p < 0.05), a lower frequen
cy of cytopathology specimens contaminated by endobronchial material (
p < 0.05), and higher yields in patients with small cell carcinoma (p
< 0.01) suggested that bronchoscopists' TBNA proficiency had increased
. More frequent diagnoses with small cell carcinoma and fewer cytologi
cally unsatisfactory specimens (p < 0.01) suggested that education of
bronchoscopy technicians, and use of a direct smear technique for spec
imen preparation also contributed to improved TBNA yield. Increased ex
perience with TBNA and focused education regarding its performance can
enhance the role of this procedure in diagnosis and staging of patien
ts with lung cancer.