EBUS-TBNA using the convex probe is a standard of care for the assessment of mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy. Although EBUS-TBNA is a minimally invasive procedure, rare but serious infectious complications such as pneumonia, lung abscess, empyema, mediastinal adenitis/abscess, mediastinitis, pericarditis, and sepsis were reported. EBUS-scope might be contaminated with oropharyngeal commensal bacteria while passing the oropharyngeal airway during EBUS-TBNA. Contamination of punctured lymph nodes by oropharyngeal commensal bacteria can cause severe infections.~Chlorhexidine gluconate is an antimicrobial agent that has a broad antibacterial activity including both gram-positive and negative bacteria. Chlorhexidine has been widely used for surgical scrub, skin disinfection, and mouthrinse. We, therefore, designed a phase 4, single-center, randomized, controlled clinical trial to investigate whether chlorhexidine mouthrinse is effective in preventing microbial contamination during EBUS-TBNA.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether chlorhexidine mouthrinse is effective in preventing microbial contamination during endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA).