Role of CT-guided transthoracic core needle biopsy in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

Purpose: To evaluate the value of CT-guided core-needle biopsy in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Materials and methods: 67 patients suspected with pulmonary tuberculosis underwent CT-guided core-needle biopsy in our hospital between March 2009 and January 2014. The biopsy procedures, pathologic findings, and microbiologic results were recorded. Results: 67 patients were enrolled including 40 men and 27 women, with a mean age of 45.4 years (range, from 17 to 75 years). Histological diagnosis were made by CT-guided core-needle biopsy as follows: The organism were detected in 20 patients; for organism negative patients, tumor tissue were found in 5 patients, epithelioid granulomatous reaction with caseation were found in 18 patients; epithelioid granulomatous reaction without caseation were found in 15 patients; nonspecific results were found in 9 patients. Smears and cultures were performed on 42 patients with TB positive in 15 patients. Finally, 51(76.12%) patients were diagnosed with TB; the specific diagnosis made by CT guided biopsy was 74.63%(50/67). Conclusion: CT-guided transthoracic core needle biopsy had high performance on the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis and facilitated the diagnosis of malignancy, lymphoma and other infectious disease