General information, not an individual diagnosis. Ask a healthcare professional if you are unsure about your situation.
Bronchial ultrasound endoscopy, or EBUS, combines an endoscope and an ultrasound probe. It can show lymph nodes or structures around the airways in the area between the lungs.
The lung specialist can guide a fine needle to an identified area and take cells or tissue. The test helps investigate different causes, including infection, inflammation or tumours; being referred does not determine the result.
Anaesthesia may be local or general depending on the situation and centre. Follow written instructions about fasting, dentures and being accompanied home; ask the service if anything is unclear.
Provide your medication list, especially blood thinners, and any previously requested investigations. The doctor or anaesthetist decides whether a medicine needs to be paused: do not change treatment yourself.
Monitoring and results after the examination depend on your team. Throat discomfort, cough, fever or small traces of blood can occur; before leaving, ask whom to contact and report symptoms to the team.
New breathlessness without distress needs medical assessment the same day. Call 15 or 112 in France for short shallow breathing at 30 or more per minute even while seated, visible effort to breathe, difficulty speaking, blue lips or fingers, sweating, altered alertness, a very fast pulse (at least 120), a weak or slow pulse, or falling blood pressure. With breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations, leg swelling, recent weight gain or facial swelling are also emergency signs. A cough with chest pain and blood-stained or frothy sputum also requires a call to 15 or 112.
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