Sponge Biopsy: A Contribution to Improved Diagnosis of Lung Pathology: Preliminary Report

CANCER OF THE LUNG now causes more deaths than any other form of cancer in the male. Furthermore, its incidence is increasing not only in the male but also in the female. Cigarette smoking, one of the etiologic factors of bronchogenie carcinoma, will not disappear from the American scene because of varied social and economic factors. Therefore, as in other forms of neoplasia, early diagnosis offers the only other logical solution for this increasing problem. For the past 10 months we have applied the cellulose sponge of Gladstone 2-9 in the diagnosis of lung lesions and have been gratified with its results. It is our feeling that this method has merit and adds to the over-all accuracy of bronchoscopic examinations. It is equal, if not superior, to the cytology of bronchial washings stained by the Papanicolaou technique. The method is not a new one. It has been serially reported since 1948