Fine Needle Aspiration of the Lung

Abstract

Lung cancer is the most common malignancy in the United States, and malignancies from other sites of the body frequently metastasize to the lung. In addition, the increased utilization of radiologic studies over time has led to a corresponding increase in the discovery of incidental long lesions (“incidentalomas”). The advent of ultrasound-guided bronchoscopy and, more recently, navigational bronchoscopy has allowed sampling of these lesions by fine needle aspiration (FNA). In addition, mediastinal lymph nodes may be sampled to determine the presence of metastases and allow staging of the patient by FNA without the need for mediastinoscopy, a more invasive procedure. In patients who are poor surgical candidates, FNA can be used to obtain malignant cells for molecular studies and allowing eligible patients to receive targeted therapies which may extend their lifespan.