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Laboratory and Animal InvestigationsTechniques in Human Airway Inflammation: Quantity and Morphology of Bronchial Biopsy Specimens Taken by Forceps of Three Sizes
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
Thirty patients who had a diagnostic fiberoptic bronchoscopy for various reasons, eg, suspected bronchial carcinoma, sarcoidosis, and infectious lung disease, participated in the study. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients and the study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the University Hospital. Apart from the biopsy specimens needed for diagnostic procedures, two more biopsy specimens of macroscopically normal bronchial mucosa were taken from subcarinae of the
Results
Biopsy specimens from five patients could not be evaluated. They contained only mucus or blood without tissue (two with forceps type FB-19C, two with FB-35C); biopsy specimens of another patient could not be used due to technical artifacts (FB-19C). Thus, bronchial biopsy specimens of 25 patients were available for evaluation.
The biopsy specimens taken with the FB-35C and FB-21C forceps were equal in size, and the biopsy specimens taken with the FB-19C were the smallest, when measured by the
Discussion
Our study shows that the hypothesis that the bigger the biopsy forceps, the larger the biopsy specimen and the better the quality of the tissue, holds only partially. The FB-19C forceps is the smallest and so are the biopsy specimens taken with it. The jaws of the forceps FB-35C were much larger than the jaws of the other forceps types. It was, however, often difficult to place the FB-35C in the right position on the subcarina of the basal segments. When the forceps were closed, the jaws
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2010, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular SurgeryCitation Excerpt :Generally, it is without doubt that the bigger the FB, the larger the obtained specimens, and better tissue quality leads to better results. But studies that used different types of forceps to compare the obtained specimens have provided controversial results.2 Even if specimens were larger, the mechanical damage significantly influenced the results.
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2004, Physiological MeasurementFlexible Bronchoscopy Biopsy Tools and Techniques to Optimize Diagnostic Yield: A Contemporary Review
2021, Current Respiratory Medicine ReviewsUsefulness and safety of transbronchial biopsy with large forceps during flexible bronchoscopy
2020, Baylor University Medical Center ProceedingsCryobiopsy versus forceps biopsy in endobronchial lesions, diagnostic yield and safety
2017, Advances in Respiratory Medicine
Supported by the Netherlands Asthma Foundation (grant No. 92.28).