Computed tomography-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy for diagnosis of mediastinal mass lesions: Experience with 110 cases in two university hospitals in Isfahan, Iran

Background: Computed tomography-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy (PCNB) is a diagnostic technique for initial assessment of mediastinal mass lesions. This study was conducted to evaluate its diagnostic yield and its complication rate.
Materials and Methods: We reviewed the records of CT-guided PCNB in 110 patients with mediastinal mass lesions performed in Kashani and Alzahra Hospitals, Isfahan, from 2006 to 2012. Gender, age at biopsy, size, and anatomic location of the lesion, number of passes, site of approach, complications, and final diagnosis were extracted.
Results: Our series encompasses 52 (47.2%) females and 58 (52/7%) males with mean age of 41 ± 8 years. The most common site of involvement was the anterior mediastinum (91.8% of cases). An average of 3/5 passes per patient has been taken for tissue sampling. Parasternal site was the most frequent approach taken for PCNB (in 78.1% of cases). Diagnostic tissue was obtained in 99 (90%) biopsies while, in 11 (10%) cases, specimen materials were inadequate. Lymphoma (49.5%) and bronchogenic carcinoma (33.3%) were the most frequent lesions in our series. The overall complication rate was 17.2% from which 10.9% was pneumothorax, 5.4% was hemoptysis, and 0.9% was vasovagal reflex.
Conclusion: CT-guided PCNB is a safe and reliable procedure that can provide a precise diagnosis for patients with both benign and malignant mediastinal masses, and it is considered the preferred first diagnostic procedure use for this purpose.