Lavado y cepillado bronquiales en tumores pulmonares centrales y periféricos sospechosos de malignidad

cytologic and histologic diagnosis of lung tumors can usually be done by means of fiberoptic bronchoscopy (fob), but there are some differences in cases of central or peripheral tumors. objective: to determine the sensititivity of bronchial brushing, lavage and biopsy performed by fbo in a sample of central tumors, with evident bronchial alterations, and another sample of peripheral lesions in which these alterations are less frequent. a preliminary comparison of the costs of fob in mexico and holland was also done. cases: there were 86 patients with tumoral lesions suspicious of malignancy, 44 central (group a) and 42 peripheral (group b); all were subjected to fob, lavage and bronchial brush ings; biopsy was done in 15 cases of endobronchial lesions. results: there was a significat difference (p < 0.005) as to the normal or abnormal appearance of the bronchial mucosa between central tumors (a) and peripheral (b) lesions. diagnosis of malignancy by lavage and brushing based in the finding of malignant cells was positive in 21 of the group a and in 14 of group b, sensitivity of 60% and 40% respectively. biopsy was performed in 15 cases with endobronchial tumor. in the negative cases, 23 in group a and 28 in group b, other diagnostic methods were employed (p < 0.05). a total of 76 cases of malignancy were detected; bronchogenic carcinoma was predominant (43%). ten cases of infectious diseases were identified. conclusion: fob remains as an important diagnostic tool in cases of lung tumors. bronchial lavage and brushing had positive results for malignant cells in 35/86; this relative low figure suggests the need to improve the quality of the samples obtained by fob. other diagnostic methods must be used in cases with negative fob results. estimated costs, in us dollars, of diagnostic methods are much lower in mexico than in an european country, the netherlands.