What is a common staging procedure for lung cancer?

• A. PET-CT
• B. EBUS FNA
• C. Mediastinoscopy
• D. Thoracentesis

Answer: (B)

Staging lung cancer relies on confirming whether cancer has spread to the mediastinal lymph nodes, because nodal involvement changes prognosis and treatment plans. A common way to obtain tissue from those nodes is endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration. During bronchoscopy, ultrasound guides a needle into targeted mediastinal lymph nodes to collect cells for pathology. This approach gives a direct tissue diagnosis with less invasiveness than open surgery, so it’s frequently used as a first-line staging procedure.

Imaging like PET-CT can show suspicious nodal activity, but it doesn’t provide a tissue sample to confirm cancer. Mediastinoscopy is more invasive since it requires surgical access to the mediastinum, and thoracentesis only samples pleural fluid, not lymph nodes.