Diagnostic efficacy of CT-guided transthoracic needle biopsy and fine needle aspiration in cases of pulmonary infectious disease

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of computed-tomography (CT)-guided transthoracic needle biopsy (TNB) and fine needle aspiration (FNA) in diagnosing pulmonary infectious diseases. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients treated at our institution between October 2006 and September 2009 and identified 161 patients who had undergone CT-guided TNB or FNA. We conducted CT-guided TNB or FNA for the patients if bronchoscopy failed to provide proper diagnosis or if their thoracic lesions were not appropriate targets for bronchoscopy. Twenty-three patients were diagnosed with pulmonary infectious diseases, of whom 17 were diagnosed by CT-guided TNB or FNA; sensitivity was therefore 73.9 % (17/23). The diagnostic rate for Aspergillus infection was especially high (75 %). CT-guided TNB and FNA proved to be effective as alternative methods if bronchoscopy failed to diagnose pulmonary infectious diseases, with acceptable complication rates.