Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS) for Local Drug Application: Future Methodology

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among cancer patients with a higher rate for man, but soon also for women. New targeted treatments are already being used with the current addition of immunotherapy. However, for many patients there are several adverse effects or issues that emerge during therapy and there are cases where we would like to have local treatment options such as; in the case of microwave ablation, radiofrequency laser, argon plasma and cryotherapy. Endobronchial ultrasound system (linear) could be used and it has been used for local drug delivery into thoracic lymph nodes and lung cancer tumors.