Percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy in children--summary of our experience with 57 children.
BACKGROUND
Percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy in children has been slower to gain acceptance than in adults where it is regarded as the standard clinical practice in screening suspicious masses.


OBJECTIVE
To report our experience with percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy in the pediatric population and assess its clinical use, efficacy and limitations.


METHODS
Sixty-nine percutaneous image-guided needle biopsies were performed in 57 children. The age of the children ranged from 4 days to 14 years (mean 5.6 years). We used 16- to-20-gauge cutting-edge needles. Sixty-two biopsies were core-needle biopsies and 7 fine-needle aspiration biopsies.


RESULTS
There were 50 malignant lesions, 10 benign lesions and 2 infectious lesions. In 55 (88.7 %) lesions the needle biopsy was diagnostic. In 7 (11.3 %) the biopsy was non-diagnostic and the diagnosis was made by surgery. Core-needle biopsy was diagnostic in 47 of 50 (94 %) of the malignant solid tumors. In 3 out of 5 children with lymphoma, an accurate diagnosis was obtained with needle aspiration. Seven children underwent a repeated core-needle biopsy, (5 for Wilms' tumor and 2 for neuroblastoma) that was diagnostic in all cases. All the biopsies were performed without complications.


CONCLUSIONS
Percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy is a simple, minimally invasive, safe and accurate method for the evaluation of children with suspicious masses. These data suggest that image-guided needle biopsy is an excellent tool for diagnosing solid tumors in the pediatric population. Negative studies should be considered nondiagnostic and followed by excisional surgical biopsies when clinical suspicion of malignancy is high.
Sklair-Levy
M
M
Department of Radiology, Hadassah University Hospital, P. O.B 12000, Jerusalem, Israel 91120. izhar56@hotmail.com
Lebensart
P D
PD
Applbaum
Y H
YH
Ramu
N
N
Freeman
A
A
Gozal
D
D
Gross
E
E
Sherman
Y
Y
Bar-Ziv
J
J
Libson
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007239:Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*