Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Mar;46(1):19-22.
doi: 10.2478/v10019-012-0004-4. Epub 2012 Jan 2.

Percutaneous transthoracic CT guided biopsies of lung lesions; fine needle aspiration biopsy versus core biopsy

Serif Beslic  1 , Fuad Zukic, Selma Milisic
Affiliations

Percutaneous transthoracic CT guided biopsies of lung lesions; fine needle aspiration biopsy versus core biopsy

Serif Beslic et al. Radiol Oncol. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare the results and complication rate in CT guided percutaneous trans-thoracic fine needle aspiration biopsies (FNAB) and core biopsies of lung lesions, and to determine the applicability of these needles.

Patients and methods: In 242 patients (166 males; 76 females) with mean age of 58.9 years (13-84 years) CT guided biopsies of lung lesions were performed on dual slice CT equipment. The average diameter of lung lesion was 2.9 cm (1.2-6.3 cm). For FNAB's 20 - 22 G Chiba needles and for core biopsies 14 G biopsy needles were used. The samples were sent for the histological analysis. The cytological or histological results and the eventual complications were compared.

Results: FNAB's cytological samples were adequate for definitive diagnosis in 117 patients (79.60 %) and inadequate in 30 patients (20.40 %). Core biopsies samples were adequate in 92 (96.85 %) patients and non- representative (necrotic tissue) in 3 (3.15 %). Pneumothorax as the most frequent complication was detected in 14 (9.7 %) of the patients in the group of FNAB's and in 30 (31.5 %) of the patients with the core biopsy group.

Conclusions: The results showed that percutaneous transthoracic CT guided biopsies of lung lesions were an effective and safe procedure in the diagnosis of lung lesions. Core biopsy gives a higher percentage of representative samples than FNAB, and is a preferred method regardless of the higher rate of complications.

Keywords: CT; FNAB; core biopsy; lung lesions; transthoracic biopsy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

References

    1. Vardar E, Erkan N, Bayol U, Yilmaz C, Dogan M. Metastatic tumours to the thyroid gland: report of 3 cases and brief review of the literature. Radiol Oncol. 2011;45:53–58. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liao WY, Chen MZ, Chang YL, Wu HD, Yu-Ch J, Kuo PH, et al. US – guided transthoracic cutting biopsy for peripheral thoracic lesions less than 3cm in diameter. Radiology. 2000;217:685–91. - PubMed
    1. Priola MA, Priola MS, Cataldi A, Ferrero B, Garofalo G, Errico L, et al. CT-guided percutaneous transthoracic biopsy in the diagnosis of madiastinal masses: evaluation of 73 procedures. Radiol Med. 2008;113:3–15. - PubMed
    1. Adams FR, Gleeson FV. Percutaneous image-guided cutting needle biopsy of the pleura in the presence of a suspected malignant effusion. Radiology. 2001;219:510–14. - PubMed
    1. Oikonomou A, Matzinger FR, Seely JM, Dennie CJ, Macleod PJ. Ultrathin (25G) aspiration lung biopsy: diagnostic accuracy and complication rates. Eur Radiol. 2004;14:375–82. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources