title: Stereotactic computed tomography-guided brain biopsy: diagnostic yield based on a series of 170 patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stereotactic CT-guided biopsy is a valuable and safe procedure for diagnosing intracranial lesions. The objectives of this article are to analyze the diagnostic yield in a series of stereotactic CT-guided brain biopsies and to evaluate whether predictive factors may influence diagnostic yield.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of a series of patients who underwent stereotactic CT-guided brain biopsy from 1993 to 2005 in a neurosurgical center were reviewed. Clinical data were stored and analyzed with Microsoft Access (Microsoft Corp, Seattle, WA) and SPSS V11.0 software (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL). The following variables were analyzed: age, sex, anatomopathologic diagnosis, lesion topography and volume, postsurgical complications, and predictive factors that may affect diagnostic yield.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred seventy patients (102 males, 68 females; average age, 48.5 years) were analyzed. Stereotactic CT-guided biopsies allowed diagnosis in 157 cases (92%). The most frequent anatomopathologic diagnoses were high-grade glioma (n = 45), low-grade glioma (n = 31), nonspecific inflammatory lesions (n = 19), metastasis (n = 10), and lymphoma (n = 10). The most frequent topographies were frontal (n = 42), basal ganglia (n = 40), and parietal (n = 27) and front-parietal lobes (n = 9). Complications occurred in 5 patients (2.9%). Mortality rate was 1.2% (2 patients). Age had a positive impact, whereas female sex negatively affected diagnostic yield. All other predictive factors analyzed were not significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Stereotactic CT-guided brain biopsies performed presented acceptable anatomopathologic diagnostic rate. Age had a positive impact, whereas female sex negatively affected diagnostic yield in this series.
authors.affiliation: Neurosurgery Department, Hospital São José/Complexo Hospitalar Santa Casa de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre 90020-060, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcelo Paglioli
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Nelson Pires
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Arthur de Azambuja
authors.initials: Ade A
authors.lastname: Pereira Filho
authors.forename: Gustavo de Azambuja
authors.initials: Gde A
authors.lastname: Pereira Filho
authors.forename: André Cerutti
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Franciscatto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012737:Sex Factors; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed