Transthoracic needle biopsy for pleural and peripheral lung lesions: ultrasonography vs CT scan guidance.

It is well known that imaging-guided biopsy for pulmonary lesions will induce complications such as pneumothorax and bleeding. Preoperative enhanced CT imaging or intraoperative color Doppler ultrasound can be used to evaluate the vessel and avoid or reduce the operationrelated bleeding. However, the potential occurrence of pneumothorax makes us avoid performing CT scanguided biopsies. Th e occurrence of pneumothorax will result in prolonged operation time, lower oxygen saturation in patients with senility, and even failure of biopsy. We notice that Hallifax et al 1 perfectly reduced the incidence of complications including pneumothorax (0 of 50 procedures [0.0%]). In an article by Sconfi enza et al, 2 the incidence of pneumothorax was six in 103 patients (5.8%) and 25 in 170 patients (14.7%) in ultrasoundand CT scan-guided fi ne-needle aspiration biopsy procedures for diagnosing pleural/peripheral lung lesions, respectively.