Pneumothorax after CT-Guided Lung Biopsy: What Next?

Background  Pneumothorax is the most common complication of computed tomography (CT)-guided lung biopsy. The asymptomatic rate ranges from 17.5 to 72%. The symptomatic rate requiring chest tube insertion is 6 to 18%. Aims  This article studies the role of management of postbiopsy pneumothoraces by needle aspiration and pigtail catheter insertion. Methods  This was a prospective observational study conducted over 2 years. Postbiopsy and prior to withdrawing the coaxial cannula a CT data set was obtained to detect and quantify pneumothoraces as mild, moderate, and severe. In all asymptomatic cases of mild pneumothorax simple observation was done. In all asymptomatic cases of moderate pneumothorax, immediate needle aspiration was performed. In all symptomatic cases, cases with severe pneumothorax, and cases with progressively enlarging pneumothorax small caliber 6 to 8F pigtail catheters were inserted. Results  Ninety-one cases had mild pneumothorax, 42 had moderate pneumothorax, and 18 had severe pneumothorax. In the 91 patients of mild pneumothorax only 1 (1%) patient showed increase in size of pneumothorax on follow-up requiring catheter insertion. In the 42 cases of moderate pneumothorax, which were managed by simple aspiration of pneumothorax, 4 (9.5%) cases showed increase in size of pneumothorax on follow-up. A total 23 cases required pigtail catheter insertion in our study. These constituted 15.2% of pneumothorax cases. The mean duration of catheterization in our study was 3.74 ± 1.09 days. Conclusion  Majority of pneumothoraces are benign and do not require any intervention, just observation. Manual aspiration is an effective way of treating moderate pneumothoraces with success rate of 90%, thereby reducing the number of cases requiring catheter insertion; however, close observation is required as few cases may progress to severe pneumothorax and require pigtail insertion. Only a small percentage of biopsy cases (6.4%) require catheter insertion which is a safe and effective treatment.