EUS gives clearer lung cancer diagnostic results

Source: Xinhua | 02-06-2009 10:32

A study found that endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) works better than traditional methods in lung cancer diagnosis, according to The Chinese University of Hong Kong which made the result public on Thursday.

The university's Faculty of Medicine recruited 125 patients with abnormal shadows on chest X-ray were recruited from 1998 to 2007, to assess the diagnostic yield and complication rate of EUS for various suspicious lesions in the chest.

The diagnosis in about half of these patients remained obscure despite conventional investigations. Using EUS, the causes of abnormal chest X-ray shadows in 83 percent of the cases were established. Complication rate was very low, smaller than 1 percent, and there was no procedure-related fatality.

"This study suggests that, EUS is an important diagnostic and staging tool for lung cancer patients. It is safe, accurate, and highly tolerable," said Dr. Larry Lai, the in-charge endoscopist in EUS service and Honorary Clinical Tutor of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics of the university.

Traditionally, clinicians use computer tomography (CT) scan, bronchoscopy, or even operation under general anesthesia to evaluate the extent of cancer invasion. However, these conventional techniques are often traumatic.