Multicenter experience with electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy for the diagnosis of pulmonary nodules.

Background: Physicians are increasingly encountering lung nodules in their practice, and tissue diagnosis is often required. Conventional bronchoscopic sampling yields a range from 14% to 69% depending on the nodule size and location within the lung. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic yield of electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) in multiple centers and to determine what factors affect the yield of ENB.

Diagnosis of lung nodules with peripheral/radial endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial biopsy.

Background: : Pulmonary nodules are frequently encountered in clinical practice, but diagnostic sensitivity of traditional bronchoscopy remains less than desirable. Transbronchial biopsy (TBBX) under fluoroscopic guidance with flexible bronchoscopy has a sensitivity of 34% for lesions <20 mm and 63% for lesions >20 mm. Navigational technologies such as electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy have increased the yields of TBBX to approximately 73%.

Tools of the Trade: A Novel Bronchoscope With a Built-in Miniature Video Screen, Camera, and Light Source.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of a mobile bronchoscope with miniature video screen, light source, and a digital camera.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Inpatient and outpatient tertiary care center.

Pulmonary hypertensive medical therapy in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension before pulmonary thromboendarterectomy.

Background: The currently recommended treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension is pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE). No convincing evidence for the use of pulmonary hypertensive medical therapy (PHT) exists in operable candidates. We sought to determine the prevalence of the use of PHT on referral for PTE and the effects on pre-PTE hemodynamics and post-PTE outcomes/hemodynamics.