Study of CT-guided percutaneous biopsy for the spine lesions

Objective To determine the successful rate, diagnostic accuracy and clinical usefulness of CT-guided percutaneous biopsy for the spine lesions. Methods Eight-five patients(61 outpatients ,24 ward patients)underwent CT-guided percutaneous biopsy for the spine lesion. The imaging appearance of spinal lesions were lytic in 57 cases, osteosclerotic in 19 cases, and mixed in 9 cases. Biopsy specimens were sent for cytologic and histologic analysis in order to correct diagnosis. Bacterial studies were performed when ever infection was suspected. Results The localization of puncture biopsy needle inside the spinal lesions, was conformed by computed tomography including 3 cervical, 26 thoracic, 37 lumbar, and 19 sacral lesions. Biopsy specimens included bone(29 cases), soft tissue(5 cases), mixed tissue(47 cases)and no specimen be obtained(4 cases). An adequate specimen for pathologic examination was obtained in 81 biopsies(95%). The pathologic examinations revealed 44 metastases, 17 primary bone neoplasms, 18 infections(included tuberculosis)and 2 normal tissures of vertebral body. The diagnostic accuracy reached 97.5%(79 of 81 patients). Conclusions CT-guided percutaneous biopsy is an important tool in the evaluation of spinal lesions, providing accurate localization, less trauma and reliable pathologic diagnosis and worthwhile to be the routine before vertebroplasy.