ABSTRACT
Endosonography is regarded as the most important innovation in pulmonary endoscopy since the invention of flexible bronchoscopy in 1966. Being able to “look behind” the bronchial wall and simultaneously take real-time ultrasoundguided samples of mediastinal, hilar, and intrapulmonary lesions provides a whole new dimension to bronchoscopy. More invasive diagnostic surgical staging procedures-such as mediastinoscopy-have been largely replaced by the minimally invasive endosonographic techniques. In just over a decade since the first reports in 2003, endosonography now plays a central role in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer, assessment of sarcoidosis, and the analysis of mediastinal lesions.
