The use of endobronchial ultrasonography with transbronchial needle aspiration to sample a solitary substernal thyroid nodule.

Abstract

Solitary thyroid nodules (STNs) are frequently encountered in clinical practice. When sampling of an STN is deemed necessary, ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (US-FNAB) is the procedure of choice. In substernal STNs, US-FNAB is not feasible, and the patients are usually offered either more invasive diagnostic testing (mediastinoscopy or surgical excision) or follow-up imaging studies based on the clinical suspicion of malignancy. We report a case in which a substernal STN was sampled using endobronchial ultrasonography with transbronchial fine needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). Our patient is a 74-year-old woman who was admitted with an asthma exacerbation. She underwent a chest CT scan with intravenous contrast (CTA) to rule out pulmonary embolism (PE). The CTA was negative for PE but showed a substernal STN that was successfully sampled by EBUS-TBNA without complications. The cytology was consistent with a colloid adenoma. EBUS-TBNA can sample substernal STNs that are not amenable to US-FNAB.