Percutaneous aspiration biopsy of nodular lung lesions

Over a 24 month period, 39 patients with nodular lung leasions suspected of being malignant on chest x-ray study underwent transthoracic needle aspiration biopsy. An accuracy rate of nearly 100 per cent was obtained in 34 of the lesions subsequently proved to be malignant. Achieving these results requires very close cooperation between the departments of radiology, cardiology, and cytopathology.