Introduction Histology is the backbone to plan therapy in hematology and oncology. However, there
are different ways to get a histology like endoscopy, CT guided biopsy or surgery
Ultrasound is an easy and broadly available procedure, with the potential to get a
guided biopsy. Here we report target regions, efficacy and rate of complications of
this method in our hands.
Methods This is a retrospective analysis of our ultrasound guided biopsies.
Ultrasound device: Thoshiba Aplio 400, later Canon Aplio 800i. According to localization
we used a Convex array Transducer with Biopsy application or a Linear Transducer with
“free hand” technique. We used True-cut needles: range from 14 G to 18 G, particularly
16G.
We done the biopsy with local anesthesia and under sterile condition. For each localization
we done three biopsies average and a cytology specimen.
Complications we graded in three degree: 1 for little complications up to 3 for heavy
complications.
Results Overall: 2214 biopsies. Subdivision: Lymph node: 750, Liver: 538, Lung: 209, Soft
tissue: 153, Osteolytic bone: 131, Peritoneum: 78, Breast: 57, Abscess: 47, Pancreas:
46, “Pleurix” Catheter (Aszites/Pleura): 46, Pleuritic tumor: 35, Mediastinum: 30,
Kidney: 30, Adrenal gland: 14, Retroperitoneum: 12, Thyreoid gl.: 10, Spleen: 6, Bowel:6
, Lymphocele: 6, Gallbladder: 4, Cyst: 3, Parotic gland: 2, Mouth base: 1
In 96,4% of the cases we get a reliable histology. 94,3% of biopsies were free of
Complications. Complications occur in 5,7% overall. The most (4,4%) were little complications
like short pain or little self-limiting bleeding. 0,8% moderate complications like
Pneumothorax, and 0,4% heavy complications like bleeding with intervention. There
were no cases of death.
Conclusions Our analysis shows that ultrasound guided biopsy can be safely performed in a broad
spectrum of targets, with a low rate of complications (5,7% overall) and a high rate
of reliable histologic findings (96,4%). We conclude that u.-guided biopsy is a minimal
invasive, effective tool, which has the potential to shorten the diagnostic procedure.
