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Use of Electromagnetic Navigational Transthoracic Needle Aspiration (E-TTNA) for Sampling of Lung Nodules
Published on: May 23, 2015
Transthoracic needle biopsy: factors effecting risk of pneumothorax
1Department of Radiology, Uludağ University Medical School, Görükle Campus, 16059 Bursa, Turkey. utopal@uludag.edu.tr
Objective:
to evaluate the factors that could effect the risk of pneumothorax in patients undergoing transthoracic biopsy.
Material And Methods:
variables that could increase the risk of pneumothorax were evaluated in 453 CT-guided transthoracic biopsies. Factors were evaluated in two groups: (1) lesion related (presence of emphysema around the lesion, lesion depth, cavitation, presence of fissure/atelectasis and pleural tag in the needle trajectory); and (2) procedure related (biopsy type, needle size, number of passages, level of experience of the operator). All variables were analysed by chi2 test and multivariate logistic regression statistics.
Results:
pneumothorax was developed in 85 (18.8%) out of 453 procedures. A chest tube was inserted in ten (11.7%) of them. Variables that were significantly associated with an increased risk of pneumothorax were depth of the lesion (P<0.001) and severity of the emphysema (P<0.01).
Conclusion:
the length of the lung parenchyma traversed during the biopsy is the predominant risk factor for pneumothorax in patients undergoing CT-guided transthoracic biopsy. The risk of pneumothorax was also increased with the severity of the emphysema around the lesion.
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