Advanced bronchoscopic diagnostic techniques in lung cancer.

The increasing incidence of incidental pulmonary nodules necessitates effective biopsy techniques for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. This paper reviews the widely used advanced bronchoscopic techniques such as radial endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial lung biopsy, electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy and the cutting-edge robotic-assisted bronchoscopy. In addition, the cryobiopsy technique, which can enhance diagnostic yield by combining with conventional biopsy tools, is described for application to peripheral pulmonary lesions and mediastinal lesions, respectively.