Percutaneous trephine lung biopsy: evolving role

The Steele trephine was employed to perform 134 transthoracic biopsies in 120 patients. Resultant cores of tissue and "lung juice" provided a diagnosis in 89 percent (107) of the patients. Complications occurred in 41 percent (49) of the patients, the incidence being greatest in those with diffuse parenchymal disease. Most complications were of a minor nature. Although the precise role of trephine lung biopsy in the physician's diagnostic armamentarium remains to be defined, there is no doubt that it is a useful and safe technique in the elucidation of intrathoracic disease.