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Options
- Watchful Waiting
- Sputum Cytology
- Bronchoscopy
- ENB
- Transthoracic Needle Aspiration
- Video-Assisted Surgery
- Thoracotomy
Bronchoscopy
This is usually an outpatient procedure where a thicker but flexible tube called a bronchoscope is used to examine the inside of the air passages and a small tissue sample or biopsy is taken for analysis. It is important to know that this produces a diagnosis for only approximately 14% of lesions deep in the lungs (the outer two thirds of the chest) that are smaller than 2 cm in diameter.7 Therefore, this may only work when spots are close into the main airway. Other techniques must be used to make a diagnosis if the spot on the lung is deeper in the lung tissue and out of the reach of the bronchoscope.
