Mediastinoscopy: Still the Gold Standard

Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS-TBNA) is emerging as an alternative to mediastinoscopy for mediastinal lymph node evaluation in non-small cell lung cancer. It remains controversial whether EBUS-TBNA is as accurate as mediastinoscopy. Sensitivity appears similar to mediastinoscopy with enlarged nodes, but lower with normal-sized nodes. The false negative rate appears higher than with mediastinoscopy, so nonmalignant EBUS results may be unreliable. Two flawed studies examining costs identify a very small cost benefit to EBUS, which we will question herein. There are scenarios in which EBUS is preferable to mediastinoscopy. However, for routine staging of the upper mediastinum in non-small cell lung cancer, the benefits of EBUS over mediastinoscopy remain unproven.