[Diagnostic possibilities of CT-guided lung biopsy]

The authors analyse the results of computer-aided tomographic biopsies in 81 patients with various pulmonary diseases (63 with tumors, 53 of these with malignant ones, and 18 with nontumors diseases). Positive results were obtained in 86.4% of cases. Biopsies proved to be informative in 44 out of 48 patients with lung cancer, in 8 out of 10 ones with benign tumors, and in 10 out of 12 ones with nonspecific inflammations. The results were not informative in 13.6% of patients. In 4 cases the failure was caused by the absence of cellular material in the puncture biopsy specimen, in 5 it was due to the presence of only pulmonary cells. In two more cases the diagnosis of lung cancer made by computer-aided biopsy was erroneous because of the presence of inflammation elements and amorphous mass in the examined. Complications occurred in 22 (27.2%) patients, pneumothorax in 16 (19.8%) and local pulmonary hemorrhages in 6 (7.4%) of these. Hence, computer-aided biopsy of the lung is an informative diagnostic method, permitting a correct diagnosis in the majority of cases.