Diagnostic Efficacy and Safety of Endobronchial Ultrasound‐Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration in Intrathoracic Tuberculosis

<jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives</jats:title><jats:p>Endobronchial ultrasound‐guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS‐TBNA) is a minimally invasive technique. A meta‐analysis was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of EBUS‐TBNA in intrathoracic tuberculosis (TB).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science for suitable studies. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios (LRs), and diagnostic odds ratio were calculated. A summary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to calculate the area under the summary ROC curve and <jats:italic>Q</jats:italic>point value (<jats:italic>Q*</jats:italic>).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>A total of 8 studies with 809 patients were included. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of EBUS‐TBNA for diagnosis of intrathoracic TB were 0.80 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74–0.85) and 1.00 (95% CI, 0.99–1.00), respectively. The positive LR was 38.25 (95% CI, 13.59–107.65); the negative LR was 0.24 (95% CI, 0.17–0.33); and the diagnostic odds ratio was 186.35 (95% CI, 63.57–546.28). The area under the summary ROC curve was 0.935, and the <jats:italic>Q</jats:italic>*was 0.871. The pooled sensitivity of EBUS‐TBNA for diagnosis of intrathoracic tuberculous lymphadenopathy was 0.87 (95% CI, 0.80–0.95). Only 1 serious complication was reported.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Endobronchial US‐guided TBNA is an effective and safe diagnostic tool for intrathoracic TB, especially intrathoracic tuberculous lymphadenopathy.</jats:p></jats:sec>