Imprint cytology improves accuracy of CT-guided percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy

¹ Dept of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
² Dept of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
³ Dept of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
⁴ Dept of Pathology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
⁵ National Center of Excellence for General Clinical Trial and Research, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
⁶ Dept of Medical Research, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei. Taiwan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pcyang{at}ntu.edu.tw.

	Abstract

We investigated whether imprint cytology can improve the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography (CT)-guided trans-thoracic core biopsies.

From October 1997 to June 2004, thoracic lesions in 622 patients were biopsied using 19-gauge coaxial guiding needles and 20-gauge biopsy needles under CT guidance. Touch imprint cytology and histopathology were performed in all biopsy specimens.

Four-hundred-and-thirty-one lesions were diagnosed (74.1%) as malignant, 151 (25.9%) as benign lesions and 40 (6%) was non-diagnostic. Imprint-cytology plus histology has an improved diagnostic accuracy of 96.4% (sensitivity 96.5%, specificity 96.0%) (p<0.05) compared to imprint cytology alone 92.3% (sensitivity 91.0%, specificity 96.0%) or histopathology alone 93.0% (sensitivity 90.5%, specificity 100%). Procedure-related complications requiring further treatment occurred in 8 patients (1.4%).

In conclusion, imprint cytology combined with histopathology can improve the diagnostic accuracy of CT-guided transthoracic needle biopsy.