A comparison of video and autofluorescence bronchoscopy in patients at high risk of lung cancer

The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic yield of flexible video bronchoscopy (FVB) and autofluorescence bronchoscopy (i.e. lung imaging fluorescence endoscopy (LIFE)) in 151 patients at a high risk of lung cancer and with moderate dysplasia or worse on sputum cytology mass screening. Findings from FVB and LIFE were classified as either normal, abnormal or suspicious for cancer. Endobronchial biopsies (EBX) were obtained from abnormal or suspicious areas on FVB and/or LIFE, or randomly when FVB and LIFE were normal. Moderate dysplasia and worse were defined as pathologically positive. Overall, 83 out of 343 (24%) EBX were pathologically positive. The sensitivity of FVB was 72% and LIFE 96%. Relative sensitivity of LIFE over FVB was 1.33. Specificities of FVB and LIFE were 53 and 23%, respectively. The numbers of pathologically positive EBX from sites designated normal, abnormal or suspicious were: from FVB, 23 out of 162 (14%), 37 out of 151 (25%) and 23 out of 30 (77%); from LIFE, three out of 69 (4%), 44 out of 212 (21%) and 36 out of 62 (58%). In normal or abnormal areas at FVB, there was a significant increase in the yield of EBX guided by abnormal and suspicious sites noted at LIFE. In conclusion, endobronchial biopsies of suspicious findings from lung imaging fluorescence endoscopy and flexible video bronchoscopy have a good diagnostic yield. Lung imaging fluorescence endoscopy is more useful when flexible video bronchoscopy is either normal or abnormal.