Changes in thyroid fine needle aspiration practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of a different sample preparation protocol for fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of thyroid nodules established during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: From April 2020, conventional smears during FNAC were ceased according to World Health Organization recommendations due to the increased infection risk for operators, and a new protocol using only liquid-based cytology (LBC) was adopted. FNACs performed between April and July 2020 (COVID-19 group) were retrospectively compared with those from December 2019 through March 2020 (Pre-COVID-19 group).

EBUS-TBNA in PET-positive lymphadenopathies in treated cancer patients.

Mediastinal lymph node enlargement is common in the follow-up of patients with previously treated malignancies. The aim of this study is to assess the role of endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) for cyto-histological evaluation of positron emission tomography with fluorodeoxyglucose (PET) positive mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes developed in patients with previous malignancies. All EBUS-TBNA cases performed from January 2012 to May 2016 were retrospective reviewed.

Endobronchial ultrasound for mediastinal staging in lung cancer patients.

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) has changed the way mediastinal staging is performed in lung cancer patients. EBUS-TBNA is probably the most important non-invasive procedure for mediastinal staging and the currently preferred approach in many reference cancer centres worldwide. EBUS-TBNA is a less invasive technique than mediastinoscopy with low morbidity and no mortality and can be performed in an outpatient setting with excellent results.

[Prognostic significance of lymphatic micrometastasis of esophageal adenocarcinoma].

The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that a subgroup of patients considered N0 at standard single-section pathological examination may have occult lymph-node metastases (micrometastases) associated with a poor prognosis. Fifty-nine patients with oesophageal adenocarcinoma undergoing resection were studied by standard histological examinations, serial sections and immunohistochemistry, and their long-term prognoses were compared. Eight (26%) out of 31 patients previously staged as pN0 at standard histological examination were staged as pN1 or Pn2 by serial sections and/or immunohistochemistry and had a prognosis which was significantly worse than that of true pN0 patients (5-year survival: 38% vs 76%, respectively; P < 0.