Robotic assisted-bronchoscopy: technical tips and lessons learned from the initial experience with sampling peripheral lung lesions.

Background: Peripheral pulmonary nodules are increasingly detected in patients screened for lung cancer or during disease progression of thoracic or extrathoracic malignancies. Sampling these lesions requires surgery, computed tomography (CT)-guided biopsy or bronchoscopic interventions. Bronchoscopic interventions are preferable because they have lower complications and often patients may not be ideal candidates for surgical or CT-guided biopsy.

Central Airway Obstruction: Benign Strictures, Tracheobronchomalacia, and Malignancy-related Obstruction.

The purpose of this article is to provide an update on methods for palliating symptoms in patients with histologically benign and malignant central airway obstruction. We review the published literature within the past decade on postintubation, posttracheostomy, and TB- and transplant-related airway strictures; tracheobronchomalacia; and malignant airway obstruction. We review terminology, classification systems, and parameters that impact treatment decisions.

Diagnosing and staging lung cancer involving the mediastinum.

The purpose of this article is to provide an update on evidence-based methods for mediastinal staging in patients with lung cancer. This is a review of the recently published studies and a summary of relevant guidelines addressing the role of CT scan, PET scan, endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA), and mediastinoscopy as pertinent to lung cancer staging and restaging. The focus is on how these diagnostic methods fit into the best algorithm for patients with chest imaging abnormalities suspected of malignant disease.