Newsletter September 2026

Welcome Back

A new season for Interventional Pulmonology.

📖 Paper Highlight · The Cryo-RCT Trial

Cryobiopsy versus conventional bronchoscopic sampling for peripheral pulmonary lesions (Cryo-RCT): an open-label, parallel-group, randomised trial

Matsumoto Y, Nakai T, Park D, et al. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S2213-2600(26)00191-8

Diagnostic yield for peripheral pulmonary lesions using conventional bronchoscopic sampling has long remained suboptimal, hovering around 70% despite advances in navigation and imaging. Cryobiopsy, which freezes tissue at the probe tip to retrieve larger, better-preserved specimens with minimal crush artefact, has shown promise but lacked adequately powered comparative evidence against conventional forceps or needle sampling, until now.

The Cryo-RCT Trial: global footprint of the international multicentre collaboration. Source: The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

This international, open-label, randomised trial enrolled 660 patients across six centres in Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan, with 627 randomly assigned (1:1) to stand-alone cryobiopsy or conventional sampling after radial EBUS confirmed lesion visualisation. In the pre-specified adjacent-to or eccentric cohort, histology-based diagnostic yield was 77% with cryobiopsy versus 65% with conventional sampling (estimated difference 12.4%, 95% CI 2.8-22.0; p=0.0060). In the overall cohort, yield was 83% versus 75% (estimated difference 8.9%, 95% CI 2.8-15.0; p=0.0023). The trade-off: moderate bleeding was more frequent with cryobiopsy (38% vs 19%), and pneumothorax occurred in 2% versus under 1%, though severe bleeding and serious adverse events were uncommon and comparable between groups.

Primary diagnostic outcomes: cryobiopsy vs conventional sampling, overall cohort and adjacent/eccentric subgroup.

Why it matters. This is the first adequately powered randomised trial to directly compare stand-alone cryobiopsy against conventional sampling for peripheral pulmonary lesions, and it settles a long-standing question in favour of cryobiopsy, particularly when the radial EBUS probe-lesion relationship is adjacent to or eccentric rather than concentric. The gain in diagnostic yield comes with a measurable increase in bleeding and pneumothorax, a balance of complexity, safety and yield echoed by this month’s Case of the Month, where transbronchial lung cryobiopsy proved decisive in a tuberculosis/cancer differential.

Presentation

A 54-year-old man, active smoker, presented with chronic cough and blood-streaked sputum. His general condition was preserved. Sputum Xpert MTB/RIF was negative, and the (rare) samples obtained showed no organisms. Standard bronchoscopy was unremarkable, with no visible endobronchial lesion. CT showed an excavated lesion, a radiological picture that, combined with the patient’s smoking history, kept both tuberculosis and malignancy firmly on the differential.

CT: excavated right upper lobe lesion, mediastinal and lung windows.

Procedure

Radial EBUS was used to localise the lesion, followed by fluoroscopy to guide cryoprobe positioning. Three transbronchial lung cryobiopsies were performed with a 1.1 mm cryoprobe, using a balloon while withdrawing the cryoprobe through the 2.0 mm working channel of the bronchoscope. No complications occurred: no bleeding, no pneumothorax, despite the patient’s emphysema and the excavated nature of the lesion.

Radial EBUS confirmation and fluoroscopic guidance during cryoprobe positioning.

Results

Pathology on the cryobiopsy specimens was negative for malignancy. Xpert MTB/RIF performed on the biopsy fragment itself, however, came back positive. The patient was started on anti-tuberculous treatment.

Gülhane Training and Research Hospital in Ankara, Türkiye

The Gülhane IP team: procedures, training and international fellows in action.

This month, we are delighted to take you inside the Interventional Pulmonology Unit at Gülhane Training and Research Hospital in Ankara, Türkiye, led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Deniz Doğan.

A major national referral centre for complex airway and pulmonary diseases, the unit welcomes patients from across Türkiye and has developed a comprehensive and highly active Interventional Pulmonology program.

Its multidisciplinary team, interventional pulmonologists, two bronchoscopy technicians, two nurses, an anaesthesiologist and an anaesthesia technician, performs approximately 1,500 IP procedures every year, covering the full spectrum of diagnostic and therapeutic Interventional Pulmonology. Diagnostic expertise includes flexible bronchoscopy, EBUS-TBNA, EUS-B-FNA, EBUS-guided mediastinal cryobiopsy, transbronchial lung cryobiopsy and pleural interventions, while therapeutic procedures range from rigid bronchoscopy and central airway obstruction management to cryotherapy, APC, airway stenting, bronchial thermoplasty and bronchoscopic lung volume reduction.

But what makes this unit particularly special goes beyond numbers. Education, training and international knowledge sharing are deeply embedded in its mission. Over recent years, the team has welcomed IP fellows from North Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Kenya, Jordan, Malaysia, Libya, Colombia, Pakistan, Egypt, Peru, the Philippines, Ghana and beyond. The centre has also hosted several national educational courses endorsed by EABIP and WABIP, reinforcing its role as a dynamic hub for IP education and collaboration.

The ERS Congress is always a chance to meet, exchange and connect with the wider IP community, in the corridors, at the sessions, and around the posters. If you are attending, look out for EABIP members and IP-focused sessions, and take the opportunity to connect with colleagues from across Europe and beyond. See you there.

Masterclass for bronchoscopic lung diagnostics and therapy

deepdive Bronchoscopy Masterclass — 2nd edition · This month!

Lead by

Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Filiz Özkan Universitätsmedizin Essen, Ruhrlandklinik

Dr. med. Jane Winantea Universitätsmedizin Essen, Ruhrlandklinik

Dr. med. Lea Marie Schotten Helios Klinikum Bonn / Rhein-Sieg, Ruhrlandklinik

Steigenberger Hotel Cologne, Germany

📆 17–19 September 2026

A practice-oriented, interactive masterclass on diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopy for lung cancer, with live demonstrations and ten hands-on workshop stations (EBUS-guided cryobiopsy, robotic navigation, ICG coils, recanalisation and stenting, microwave ablation, pleural procedures). Taking place this very month, don’t miss the chance to join Filiz Özkan and her co-leads in Cologne for one of the most hands-on courses on the European IP calendar this year.

Hands-on workshop stations

Ten hands-on workshop stations covering navigation, ablation, stenting, pleural procedures, and the full EBUS toolbox.

Audience: experienced pulmonologists (≥ 50 bronchoscopies and ≥ 5 EBUS procedures).
Contact: Ophelia Maier — o.maier@swphl.de.

JOFPI 2026 — Journées Francophones de Pneumologie Interventionnelle

Special edition · “Les EXPERTES du GÉTIF” with WiIP

The 2026 edition of the JOFPI puts the expertise, innovation and teaching of the women leaders of the field centre stage, organised with Women in Interventional Pulmonology (WiIP). Its objectives: to train, to promote female diversity and excellence, to encourage exchange, and to raise awareness of the specific challenges of lung disease management.

🎥 ECBIP 2025 sessions are now available to all EABIP members in the Members Area of the EABIP website.

From Lisbon 2025 🇵🇹 to Ljubljana 2027 🇸🇮, the ECBIP journey continues. 🚀

📅 Save the date: 19–22 May 2027. See you in Ljubljana for the 9th European Congress of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology! 🫁✨

António Bugalho, Erik (H.F.M.) van der Heijden, Philip Emmanouil, Lamya Chrif Morand, MD, MSc, Lina Zuccatosta, Grigoris Stratakos, Aleš Rozman

24th World Congress of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology

Hosted by TSANZ and WABIP, this is the flagship world congress for our specialty this year, and it is not to be missed. Registration and abstract submissions are open, and pre-congress workshops offer hands-on training in advanced bronchoscopy and pleural procedures, led by the world’s leading IP experts, with dedicated nurse stations new this year.

Course on ROSE for Respiratory Clinicians · 2nd edition

After the great success of the first EABIP course on Rapid On-Site Evaluation (ROSE), led by Prof. Venerino Poletti (GB Morgagni Hospital / University of Bologna, Forlì), a 2nd edition will be available very soon. Keep an eye on our social media for the registration link.

What is New in Respiratory Medicine 2026 (WiNRespMed)

Organised by the Respiratory Medicine Department of the University of Ioannina together with the Institute of Respiratory Medicine and Health Promotion, under the auspices of the Hellenic Thoracic Society, the Hellenic Chest Diseases Society and the Cyprus Respiratory Society, this congress brings together leading voices in respiratory medicine. The keynote programme on 17 October includes IP-relevant talks such as “When do Robotic Bronchoscopes become necessary?” by Erik van der Heijden (NL), alongside sessions on the past and future of ERS, GINA and GOLD.

IP Unit Around the World · A new EABIP newsletter feature

Your IP Unit. Your Team. Your Expertise. Every month, the EABIP newsletter will spotlight an Interventional Pulmonology Unit from Europe and beyond. Share your team, your expertise, your innovative techniques, your educational activities, and what makes your unit unique.

Would you like your IP Unit to be featured? Contact us and take the EABIP community inside your unit at info@eabip.org. Connect · Share · Inspire.

Apply for EABIP Endorsement

EABIP endorsement provides:

If you are organising a course, workshop, or scientific meeting, we invite you to submit your endorsement request in advance.

Our strength lies in our community.

We encourage members to:

• Share initiatives and collaborations
• Submit educational material
• Promote national and international projects

Together, we continue to build a strong, united, and forward-looking interventional pulmonology network.

Share your best moments!

You are invited to share your best bronchoscopic images and videos of airway and/or pleural abnormalities. Selected submissions will be featured in upcoming EABIP Newsletter issues and shared across our social media channels (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook).

✉ info@eabip.org