Role of Ultrasound-Guided Tru-cut Biopsy in the Diagnosis of Peripheral Lung and Pleural Lesions

Background Transthoracic needle biopsy is a well-established technique for diagnosing pulmonary lesions. Computed tomography (CT) is usually used as guidance. Ultrasound (US)-guided biopsy is a relatively affordable modality for diagnosis of peripheral lung lesions (PLLs; also known as peripheral pulmonary lesions [PPLs]) and peripheral pleural lesions. Objectives The purpose of this study was to study the diagnostic yield of US guidance sampling a consecutive series of peripheral lung and pleural lesions and potential factors influencing the diagnostic yield with recording the occurrence of any complications. Patients and Methods This was a prospective study that was conducted at Ain Shams University Hospitals upon a population of 60 patients, during the period from September 2018 to August 2019. A special puncture transducer is used to perform US-guided biopsy with visualization of the biopsy needle and the lesion; facilitating the sampling procedure. Results The use of US-guided transthoracic needle biopsies across 60 patients was shown to have a yield of 75% which found the occurrence of 45 conclusive and 15 non-conclusive results From this study population, 70% (n = 42/45) were found to have malignant manifestations, of which 26 were undifferentiated high grade adenocarcinoma, and 9 were moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. As for complications arising from the biopsy procedure, twenty percent 20% (n = 12) of patients suffered from complications in the form of hemoptysis in 8 which was controlled by hemostatic measures and 4 patients acquired pneumothorax, three (¾) of them received high flow oxygen and conservative treatment and only one (1/4) patient had intercostal tube placement. Diagnostic yield was significantly increased with the presence of Wedge shaped hypoechoic lesions(p Conclusion US-guided biopsy is a robust and accurate procedure to effectively diagnose peripheral lung lesions, with a low incidence of complications and gradually improving results with the mastery of the procedure.