ABSTRACT
Percutaneous needle biopsy of pulmonary lesion with use of fluoroscopic guidance is well estabilished as a diagnostic tool but limited by the small size and inaccessibility of certain lesions. However, percutaneous needle biopsy'has been used increasingly in relation to advance and the salty of smaller biopsy needle and new imaging modalities such as ultrasound and CT. CT, because of its characteristics of high resolution, allows tissue sampling with considerable safty from area that heretofore could not be visualized under fluoroscopy. The authors summarized 44 pulmonary lesions that underwent CT-guided transthoracic biopsy with fine-needle over a 14 month period and analyzed the sensitivity of PTNB. -CT-guided PTNB was done with 20 gauge or 22 gauge Westcott biopoy needle (Mann medical products, USA). A diagnosis was made in 27 of 44 cases (61%) including malignany in 19 of 24 cases and benignancy in 8 of 20 cases. The pulmonary mass lesions were located at the peripheral zone of the lung field in 33 cases and at the central zone in 11 cases. Complications were observed in 2 cases which were pneumothorax and hemoptysis each but specific therapy was not required The sensitivity of PTNB by one session was 61% (27/44). The sensitivity of malignancy was 79% (19/24) and benignancy was 40% (8/20). These results suggest the usefulness of PTNB using fine needles be increased in eariler diagnosis and improved staging of pulmonary nodular lesions without significant complications.