ENDOBRONCHIAL ULTRASOUND STAGING OF OPERABLE NSCLC: TRIPLE NEGATIVE LYMPH NODES MAY NOT REQUIRE ROUTINE BIOPSY

PURPOSE: Current staging guidelines with EBUS recommend systematic biopsy of at least 3 mediastinal stations prior to surgical resection. Recently, a 4-point ultrasonographic score (Canada Lymph Node Score- CLNS) was developed to determine the probability of malignancy in lymph nodes (LN). A LN with CLNS≤2 is considered low probability for malignancy. We hypothesized that, during EBUS assessment of patients with cN0 NSCLC, LNs that have CLNS≤2...