[Failure factors in X-ray computed tomography-guided biopsy of pulmonary lesions: analysis of 103 consecutive biopsies].

OBJECTIVE: Percutaneous biopsy of pulmonary lesions with use of CT-guidance is well established and relatively safe. Reported accuracy rates are 64%-90% and major complications are rare. To determine the failure factors of CT-guided biopsy of lung lesions, we retrospectively analyzed 103 consecutive procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen characteristics of the biopsy procedure were analyzed, including size, location, skin-lesion and chest wall-lesion distances, operator experience, procedure type (histology and/or cytology), histologic definite diagnosis, and other. RESULTS: Overall success rate was 88%. Success rate was correlated with the size of the lesion 4.3 +/- 2.9 cm for the positive results versus 2 +/- 1.2 cm for the negative results (p < 0.01). Skin- and chest wall-lesion distances were 5.8 +/- 2.2 and 1.5 +/- 1.8 respectively for positive results and 8.3 +/- 2.9 and 3.7 +/- 2.5 for negative results (p < 0.001). The overall complication rate for pneumothorax was 17%. Chest wall-lesion distances were 3.3 +/- 1.8 cm for complicated procedures and 1.5 +/- 1.9 cm for uncomplicated procedures (p < 0.001). No other factor was significantly correlated with the risk of pneumothorax. CONCLUSION: Small lesion size, long skin- and chest wall-lesion distances are significant predictive failure factors. Long chest wall-lesion distance is significantly correlated with the complication rate for pneumothorax.