Table 3 Comparison of the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and diagnostic accuracy of different specimen preparation methods for the diagnosis of lung cancer from LNs (n = 213)

HP

89.0(83.4–93.3)

100(91.2–100)

100

67.8(57.9–76.3)

91.1(86.4–94.5)

TSC

83.8(77.5–88.9)

95.0(83.1–99.4)

98.6(94.9–99.6)

57.6(49.0-65.7)

85.9(80.5–90.3)

LBC

80.3(73.6–86.0)

97.5(86.8–99.9)

99.3(95.2–99.9)

53.3(45.8–60.9)

83.6(77.9–88.3)

5.51^▼

0.064^▼

HP + TSC

97.1(93.3–99.1)

95.0(83.1–99.4)

98.8(95.6–99.7)

86.4(76.2–94.8)

96.2(93.3–98.7)

21.15^★

0.000^★

HP + LBC

94.8(90.4–97.6)

97.5(86.8–99.9)

99.4(95.9–99.9)

81.2(69.6–89.1)

95.3(91.5–97.7)

18.03^■

0.000^■

HP + TSC + LBC

98.3(95.0-99.6)

92.5(79.6–98.4)

98.3(95.0-99.4)

92.5(80.0-97.4)

97.2(94.0–99.0)

1.04^△, 24.69^▽

0.595^△, 0.000^▽