Core biopsy of the bowel wall: Efficacy and safety in the clinical setting

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and compl ications of percutaneous 18-gauge core biopsies of lesions of the bowel wal l using CT and sonographic guidance. A retrospective study was made of 15 b iopsy procedures performed on 12 patients with suspected neoplasia of the g astrointestinal tract. The biopsies were performed when there were no sites of metastatic disease more readily accessible to biopsy and the lesion was inaccessible to endoscopic techniques or when the endoscopic biopsy findin gs were negative. CONCLUSION. Three biopsy procedures provided inadequate samples and the bio psies were repeated. giving a total of 15 biopsy procedures, A tissue diagn osis was made in all 12 patients. All procedures were well tolerated, and n o immediate or delayed complications occurred. Percutaneous core biopsy of bowel wall masses is a safe technique that allows a histologic diagnosis to be obtained in difficult cases when other methods cannot provide an adequa te tissue sample.