Available online 15 May 2009. KEYWORDS ... this technology promises to revolutionise bronchoscopy. .... In radial EBUS, a 360-degree image that is.
Respiratory Medicine (2009) 103, 1406e1414 available at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rmed
REVIEW
Endobronchial ultrasound Devanand Anantham a,*, Mariko Siyue Koh a, Armin Ernst b a
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore 169608, Singapore b Interventional Pulmonology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Received 1 February 2009; accepted 15 April 2009 Available online 15 May 2009
Summary The efficacy and technical aspects of endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) are reviewed because this technology promises to revolutionise bronchoscopy. EBUS extends the endoscopist’s view beyond the mucosal surface of the large airways to peri-bronchial structures and peripheral lung lesions. Guided biopsies and real-time transbronchial needle aspirations (TBNA) have been shown to increase the diagnostic yield over conventional bronchoscopic techniques. The technology is available in two forms: radial EBUS probes and linear EBUSeTBNA bronchoscopes. Radial EBUS utilizes higher frequencies and the transducer is inserted via a standard flexible bronchoscope. The higher ultrasound frequencies improve image resolution to
