Recent advances in therapeutic bronchoscopy.

Therapeutic bronchoscopy has come a long way from removal of foreign bodies to minimally invasive techniques in management of diseases like lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. This article discusses the exciting new techniques of therapeutic bronchoscopy namely; bronchoscopic lung volume reduction, bronchial thermoplasty, radiofrequency ablation, and use of fiducial markers in external beam irradiation.

Direct comparison of the diagnostic yield of ultrasound-assisted Abrams and Tru-Cut needle biopsies for pleural tuberculosis.

Background: Tuberculous pleuritis remains the commonest cause of exudative effusions in areas with a high prevalence of tuberculosis and histological and/or microbiological confirmation on pleural tissue is the gold standard for its diagnosis. Uncertainty remains regarding the choice of closed pleural biopsy needles.

Objectives: This prospective study compared ultrasound-assisted Abrams and Tru-Cut needle biopsies with regard to their diagnostic yield for pleural tuberculosis.