Efficient and safe method in diagnosis of thoracic lesions: Ultrasound-guided needle aspiration biopsy.

BACKGROUND To investigate the diagnostic value of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) performed under the guidance of thoracic ultrasonography (USG) for the diagnosis of thoracic lesions such as peripheral lung lesions, pleural lesions, mediastinal lesions and chest wall or supraclavicular metastases of lung lesions.
METHODS Cases with thoracic lesions that were found eligible for biopsy by thoracic USG and underwent FNAB between January 2008 and December 2016,were included to the study. Demographical characteristics and radiological findings of the cases, lesion size as detected by USG, sonographic patterns, number of FNABs per lesion, diagnosis based on FNAB, final diagnosis of inconclusive cases and the methods used to establish the final diagnosis, and developed complications were recorded.
RESULTS FNAB was performed for peripheral lung lesion in 188 (72.6%), for mediastinal mass in 23 (8.9%), for chest wall metastasis of lung tumor in 23 (8.9%), for supraclavicular lymph node metastasis of lung tumor in 18 (6.9%) and for pleural lesion in 7 (2.7%) cases. Diagnostic accuracy was 78.7%, 78.2%, 95.6%, 94,4% respectively. A diagnosis could be made in 211 of 259 (81.4%) cases (195 (92.4%) malign, 16 (7.6%) benign). Overall diagnostic success of the procedure was81.4%, and the success rate to diagnose malign and benign lesions was 81.9% and 76.1%, respectively.Pneumothorax which needs pleural tube inplacement was seen in five patients with peripheral lesion as major complication.
CONCLUSIONUS USG-guided FNAB performed for thoracic lesions, is associated with a high rate of diagnostic success (81.4%) and a low rate of major complications (1.9%).