Digital-Rapid On-site Examination in Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration (DEBUT) - a proof of concept study for the application of artificial intelligence in the bronchoscopy suite.

Endobronchial ultrasound guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) has become the standard of care for sampling mediastinal and hilar lesions and is finding increased acceptance for diagnostic as well as staging purposes [1]. EBUS-TBNA is an expensive procedure due to the high cost of equipment [2]. A repeat procedure in case of an inconclusive outcome adds to the burgeoning expenditure. To circumvent this, rapid on-site examination (ROSE) has been adopted to reduce the number of needle punctures and decrease the requirement for additional procedures [3]. However, ROSE needs presence of a pathologist or cyto-technicians in the bronchoscopy suite. Footnotes This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article. Conflict of interest: Dr. Asfahan has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Elhence has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Dutt has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Jalandra has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Chauhan has nothing to disclose.