This is a study of routine neck ultrasound performed by respiratory physicians in patients with mediastinal lymphadenopathy and suspected lung cancer
In the first phase of the study a respiratory physician was trained to perform neck ultrasound and needle sampling of enlarged cervical lymph nodes according to preset criteria. In the second phase patients with suspected lung cancer and enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes underwent routine neck ultrasound and enlarged cervical lymph nodes were sampled using fine needle and or core needle biopsy. The outcomes of interest in the study were the rate of malignant cervical lymphadenopathy defined as pathological evidence of cancer in neck lymph node samples consistent with a lung primary, adequacy of needle sampling, patient reported experience assessed by a visual analogue of discomfort associated with needle neck sampling and EBUS, and the proportion of patients that had nodal upstaging
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
30
Neck ultrasound done first and lymph nodes larger than 5 mm that are technically feasible are sampled using fine needle aspiration and/or core needle biopsy
University Hospital Galway
Galway, Ireland
Adequacy of lymph node sampling
Presence of lymphocytes or malignant cells in biopsy samples
Time frame: 7 days
Proportion of patients with malignant cervical lymphadenopathy
Presence of malignant cells consistent with lung cancer in cervical lymph node samples
Time frame: 7 days
Proportion of patients with nodal status upstaged
Defined as a change from cN2 to cN3 according to the 8th edition of the Tumour Node Metastasis TNM staging system
Time frame: 7 days
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