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The combination of cytological smears and cell blocks on endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspirates allows a higher diagnostic yield

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Abstract

We compared the diagnostic performances of conventional smears and cell block preparations of tissue samples obtained with endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration. We retrospectively analysed 451 patients (926 lymph nodes) who had undergone endobronchial ultrasound and for whom both smears and cell blocks were available and compared the diagnostic performances of these techniques when used alone and combined. Cell block preparations showed higher diagnostic performance over smears, but the combination was superior to either alone. The combination of smear and cell block techniques achieved a sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of 92.5, 100, 100, 97.7 and 99.4, 95.0, 98.6, and 97.9 % for malignant and benign diseases, respectively. We recommend cell block preparations during endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration.

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Acknowledgments

Ibrahim Onur Alici is the guarantor of the content of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ankara Occupational Diseases Hospital, 06280, Keçiören, Ankara, Turkey

    İbrahim Onur Alici

  2. Atatürk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey

    Nilgün Yılmaz Demirci, Aydın Yılmaz & Funda Demirag

  3. Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

    Jale Karakaya

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  1. İbrahim Onur Alici
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  2. Nilgün Yılmaz Demirci
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  3. Aydın Yılmaz
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  4. Funda Demirag
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  5. Jale Karakaya
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Correspondence to İbrahim Onur Alici.

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Alici, İ.O., Demirci, N.Y., Yılmaz, A. et al. The combination of cytological smears and cell blocks on endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspirates allows a higher diagnostic yield. Virchows Arch 462, 323–327 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-013-1374-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-013-1374-8

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