The contribution of CT-guided transthoracic lung biopsy to the diagnosis of organising pneumonia

Abstract

Organising pneumonia is a pulmonary disease with variable clinical and radiological features and with many differential diagnoses. Diagnosis is based on histology obtained by either transbronchial or surgical lung biopsy but these techniques have several disadvantages. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic yield of CT-guided transthoracic lung biopsy in organising pneumonia and to compare it to the usual diagnostic tools. Six cases of organising pneumonia diagnosed with CT-guided lung biopsy are reported and discussed. The role of CT-guided lung biopsy in the diagnosis of organising pneumonia was also reviewed in the literature. CT-guided transthoracic lung biopsies provided a higher rate of adequate samples than transbronchial biopsies (92-100% versus 77-86%). The samples were larger, which reduced the risks of misdiagnosis and increased the diagnostic yield (88-97% versus 26-55% in pulmonary nodules and 42-100% versus 66-75% in diffuse pulmonary disease). Complications were rare and generally not serious. CT-guided transthoracic lung biopsy may be considered in place of transbronchial biopsy in the diagnosis of organising pneumonia. Surgical lung biopsy remains the gold standard method for diagnosis.