DOI: 10.36347/sasjm.2021.v07i03.009

Pages: 110-114

The thoracic masses represent a frequent clinical situation of various etiologies. The recent development of new medical imaging techniques, but the confirmation remains histological. Through this three-year retrospective study, we will discuss the diagnostic value of CT-guided transthoracic biopsy in the diagnosis of thoracic lesions. During this period, 334 CT-guided biopsies were performed for suspicion of thoracic tumors, including 259 men and 75 women. The age was ranged between 16 years and 91 years with an average of 56,7 years. 136 patients underwent a bronchoscopy with an inconclusive biopsy. The number of cores sampled varied between 1 and 10 cores. The histological types found were dominated by squamous cell carcinoma (32,3%) and adenocarcinoma (23,9%), followed by metastases (9,9%). The sample did not allow a conclusive pathological analysis in 7 cases. The complications were dominated by alveolar haemorrhage found in 19 cases, followed by pneumothorax / pneumo mediastinum found in 18 cases. CT-guided biopsy is an alternative to invasive surgical biopsy and cytology for the diagnosis of thoracic tumors. It requires a close collaboration between the clinician, the radiologist and the pathologist to discuss its indication, in order to reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies.