ABSTRACT

Transbronchial lung biopsy enables histopathological and bacteriological examination of the lung parenchyma. One hundred and four patients who underwent bronchoscopy and transbronchial lung biopsy for various lung diseases were retrospectively evaluated. More than half of the study group consisted of patients having either malignancy (37 cases) or tuberculosis (27 cases). Thirty seven patients were diagnosed to have various interstitial lung diseases; sarcoidosis (14 cases) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (12 cases). Patients had diffuse (41 cases) or localized (63 cases) radiologic involvement. Transbronchial lung biopsy procedure was repeated two times in 17 of the patients. A specific diagnosis was achieved in 58 of the cases with 121 transbronchial lung biopsy procedure. With repeated procedures, this ratio increased to 56% (58/104). Pneumothorax and pulmonary hemorrhage with a volume of less than 50 ml occured in seven and five cases, respectively. In conclusion, we suggest that transbronchial lung biopsy is an effective diagnostic procedure in parenchymal lung diseases and it should be performed before diagnostic surgical interventions.