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  • Title: CT-Guided Percutaneous Lung Biopsies in Patients With Suspicion for Infection May Yield Clinically Useful Information.
    Author: Haas BM, Clayton JD, Elicker BM, Ordovas KG, Naeger DM.
    Journal: AJR Am J Roentgenol; 2017 Feb; 208(2):459-463. PubMed ID: 27845850.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to assess the frequency and time frame with which CT-guided lung biopsies for suspected infection yield information that can affect patient management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All CT-guided lung biopsies over a 68-month period performed for the purpose of diagnosing a suspected infection were reviewed to determine the proportion that yielded information affecting patient management. Patients were included if infection was the only consideration causing the pulmonary lesion in question. RESULTS: Twenty-one biopsies were performed to identify a specific organism causing infection in patients with suspected infection; all patients were receiving antibiotics, 20 (95%) were immunocompromised, and 15 (71%) had undergone a prior bronchoscopy. Material collected from the biopsy provided a diagnosis in nine (43%) patients, whereas the biopsy results were nondiagnostic in the remaining 12 (57%). Of the nine patients for whom the biopsy yielded a diagnosis, eight biopsies revealed the species causing an infection (38%) and one biopsy (5%) detected posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease. Of the nine diagnoses, management was changed as a result of the biopsy in six patients (29% of all patients). The organisms identified by CT-guided lung biopsy in eight patients were fungi of the order Mucorales (i.e., mucormycosis) (n = 3), Aspergillus (n = 3), Pseudomonas (n = 1), and Nocardia (n = 1). The mean elapsed time between biopsy and pathologic diagnosis was 4 days (median, 3 days). There was no association between prior bronchoscopy and nondiagnostic biopsy results. CONCLUSION: CT-guided lung biopsies in patients with a high pretest suspicion for infection result in information sufficient to change patient management in 29% of patients. Organisms identified in these patients were most frequently fungi.
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