Surgical lung biopsies in 418 patients with suspected interstitial lung disease in China.
BACKGROUND
The present study was aimed to evaluate the role and safety of surgical lung biopsies (SLB) in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) in China.


METHODS
A retrospective analysis of 418 patients with ILD undergoing SLB from Chinese literature and the data of our hospital during the past ten years was performed.


RESULTS
A total of 418 cases underwent SLB, including open lung biopsy (OLB) in 229 cases and video-assisted thoracoscopic lung biopsy (VATLB) in 189 cases. SLB yielded a specific diagnosis for 88.0% cases, and unclassifiable idiopathic interstitial pneumonia diagnosis was seen in 9.1% cases. The total postoperative complication rate was 12.0% and mortality rate was 1.9%. The diagnostic yield, post-operative complication rate, and mortality rate between VATLB and OLB had no significant difference.


CONCLUSIONS
SLB is a very useful and relatively safe procedure for diagnosis of ILD.
Zhang
Deping
D
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China. dpzhang207@yahoo.com.cn
Liu
Yin
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult