The best form of anesthesia to use during the endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is currently being debated. Researchers wanted to see if the level of sedation had any effect on the EBUS-TBNA results. Except for one study, the level of sedation had no effect on diagnostic output. The number of lesions sampled per patient was tallied in eight articles, and all but one revealed a larger number of lesions biopsied with severe sedation. The number of needle passes per lesion was recorded in seven publications; four studies reported a larger number of passes with profound sedation, one research with conscious sedation, and two studies found no difference. Four studies looked at lesion size, and two of them discovered smaller lesion biopsies under heavy sedation. Ten articles looked at complication rates, and six of them looked at the level of care escalation. Except for one study, the level of sedation was not shown to be substantially associated with complication rates. Three investigations compared patient satisfaction to sedation depth and found no effect. Only one research looked at the cost of the operation and discovered that deep sedation was more expensive than conscious sedation. The level of sedation had no effect on the EBUS-TBNA results.
As a result, conscious sedation and profound sedation remain two options for EBUS-TBNA. Several considerations, including physician expertise, patient clinical history, the goal of EBUS-TBNA, and hospital local policy, should be considered when choosing one method over the other.
