[Transesophageal endoscopic ultrasonography guided-fine needle aspiration for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis]

Nihon Kokyuki Gakkai Zasshi. 2009 Nov;47(11):996-1001.
[Article in Japanese]

Abstract

Sarcoidosis is a multi-organ disorder of unknown etiology characterized by noncaseating epithelioid cell granulomas. The specimen for histopathological diagnosis is usually obtained by transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB), but the diagnostic accuracy rate of TBLB is not satisfactory, especially for stage I patients. Since hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy is a common finding in patients with sarcoidosis, an approach to lymph nodes is expected to have a good diagnosis yield. We present 3 sarcoidosis patients in whom specimens obtained by TBLB, transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) and transesophageal endoscopic ultrasonography guided-fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA). The histopathological appearance of specimens obtained by EUS-FNA for swollen mediastinal lymph nodes showed noncaseating epithelioid granulomas which are characteristic of sarcoidosis in all 3 patients. On the other hand, no specific findings were recognized in the specimens obtained by TBLB and TBNA in 2 out of 3 patients. These results suggest that EUS-FNA is useful to obtain diagnostic specimens in cases of sarcoidosis.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Biopsy, Fine-Needle / methods*
  • Endosonography / methods*
  • Esophagus
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Sarcoidosis / pathology*