Ultrasonographically guided needle biopsy of benign and malignant soft tissue and bone tumors

In 65 patients an ultrasonographically guided needle biopsy was performed f or histologic diagnosis of benign and malignant soft tissue and bone tumors . On the basis of the histopathologic findings, a final diagnosis could be made in 54 cases after sonographically guided needle biopsy of the soft tis sue tumor component. In addition, tumor grouping was possible in seven case s; however, due to the small volume of the biopsy specimen, further tumor d ifferentiation proved to be unsuccessful. A definite diagnosis was not poss ible in four patients, who had mainly cystoid tumors; however, malignancy c ould be ruled out in three of these cases. The decisive advantage of the ul trasonographically guided needle biopsy procedure over what is known as a b lind tumor biopsy is that the biopsy needle can be positioned exactly by me ans of imaging control. The ultrasound screen enables the user to monitor t he biopsy procedure; multiple biopsies of different parts of the tumor soft tissue component can be performed using a single needle tract. No complica tions occurred in our study. Because of the far-reaching consequences of ul trasonographically guided needle biopsy this type of procedure should be pe rformed only at tumor centers.