Fine needle aspiration biopsy of the lung

Fine needle biopsy provides a highly accurate diagnostic method which can be performed rapidly with minimal risk. It provides a definitive diagnosis in most patients at low cost with minimal trauma. Patients at poor surgical risk are saved a thoracotomy in many instances. Patients who are clinically inoperable can receive appropriate chemotherapy and radiotherapy without major surgery done solely for diagnostic purposes. In comparative studies, this technique has generally been reported to be superior to bronchoscopic biopsy and sputum cytology in the diagnosis of radiologically evident lung lesions. In screening patients, sputum cytology remains the method of choice and is essentially the only method of diagnosing early lesions not seen radiologically. Bronchial brush biopsy, another technique of great value, is particularly useful in the diagnosis of central bronchial lesions. Appropriate utilization of these three cytologic sampling procedures provides for the highest degree of accuracy in the diagnosis of pulmonary disease with minimum risk to the patient.