Simultaneous Use of Endobronchial and Endoscopic Ultrasound Guidance as Primary Tools in the Diagnosis of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Authors

Babith Mankidy
Jordan Sparkman
Shreyes Boddu
Quillann Huang
Munish Sharma

Publication Date

12-1-2022

Journal

Cureus

DOI

10.7759/cureus.32110

PMID

36601180

PMCID

PMC9805368

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

12-1-2022

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-Print

Published Open-Access

yes

Keywords

pleural effusion, endoscopic ultrasound, endobronchial ultrasound, pleural biopsy, malignant pleural mesothelioma

Abstract

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is related to exposure to asbestos. It is insidious in nature and is generally diagnosed at an advanced stage. MPM is aggressive and portends a poor prognosis. Definitive diagnosis is usually established by obtaining pathological samples of the pleura by medical or surgical thoracoscopy. However, these procedures are invasive and carry a risk of seeding of biopsy sites with tumors. We herein report an infrequently encountered case of simultaneous use of endobronchial ultrasound and endoscopic ultrasound-guided biopsy of malignant pleural mesothelioma in a 48-year-old female patient.