PERCUTANEOUS US (ULTRA SOUND) GUIDED FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION (FNA) OF ENDOTHORACIC NEOPLASM

Introduction: Ultrasound (US)-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) of percutaneous, transparietal endothoracic lesions, is a useful method in the diagnostic process for anatomopathological characterization. This sampling is a minimally invasive procedure, with a low complication rate and can be performed under loco-regional anesthesia Material and methods: We retrospectively studied (2009 to 2019) the utility of US guided transthoracic FNA in the diagnosis of suspected endothoracic lesions on 54 patients (34 men and 20 women), aged between 44 and 79 years, with pleural, pulmonary or mediastinal neoplasm viewable with an US examination. Results: The definitive diagnosis of malignant or benign neoplastic disease was obtained by the pathological examination of the material obtained through the US-guided FNA or by other procedures performed subsequently: biopsies/surgery and clinical information, associated with clinical follow-up. The accuracy of the US guided FNA was 94.4% (51/54) with a sensitivity of 93.8% (93.8) and specificity of 100% (5/5); multiple FNA were performed in 24% of cases (13/54). Conclusions: US-guided FNA is a procedure that can be performed in one day surgery and allows a significant reduction in healthcare costs and has a particularly high diagnostic accuracy with good patient compliance.