EUS-B-FNA in the Diagnosis of Malignant Parenchymal Lung Lesions

Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women worldwide. Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) represents about 80-90% of all lung cancers. Endoscopic ultrasound with bronchoscope fine needle aspiration (EUS-B-FNA) is a safe and accurate technique that has been mostly described for the diagnosis and the mediastinal nodal staging of NSCLC, as a complementary technique to endobronchial ultrasound trans-bronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) or when EBUS-TBNA may be difficult and/or contraindicated for clinical reasons (e.g. excessive cough, respiratory failure etc). Few retrospective studies evaluated the sensitivity and the safety of this technique in the diagnosis of parenchymal pulmonary lesions suspected for lung cancer, in contact or adjacent to the esophagus. Few data are available on the adequacy of the samples obtained by EUS-B-FNA for molecular analysis in NSCLC. The main predictors of success are still unclear. The primary aim of this prospective study is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-B-FNA in the diagnosis of malignant parenchymal lung lesions. The Investigators will also evaluate the safety and tolerability of the technique, the main predictors of success and the adequacy of samples obtained for molecular analysis in patients with NSCLC