CT-guided biopsy for the diagnosis of renal tumors before treatment with percutaneous ablation.
OBJECTIVE
Percutaneous thermal ablation is an emerging technique in the management of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), with greatest efficacy in tumors < or = 3 cm. The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the role and utility of pretreatment CT-guided biopsy in patients referred for percutaneous thermal ablation of renal tumors.


CONCLUSIONS
Less than 5% of samples in our study were benign, and 11.8% were nondiagnostic. Biopsy in smaller lesions was less accurate; therefore biopsy is less useful for these renal lesions. Because fine-needle aspiration (FNA) has higher sensitivity than core biopsy, an appropriate algorithm may be to begin with FNA and reserve core biopsy for cases in which an onsite cytotechnologist is unavailable or deems the sample of inadequate cellularity.
Heilbrun
Marta E
ME
Department of Radiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. marta.heilbrun@hsc.utah.edu
Zagoria
Ronald J
RJ
Garvin
A Julian
AJ
Hall
M Craig
MC
Krehbiel
Kyle
K
Southwick
Andrew
A
Clark
Peter E
PE
D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D017115:Catheter Ablation; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome