Percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy in children - summary of our experience with 57 children

Background. Percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy in children has been sl ower to gain acceptance than in adults where it is regarded as the standard clinical practice in screening suspicious masses. Objectives. To report our experience with percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy in the pediatric population and assess its clinical use, efficacy an d limitations. Material and methods. Sixty-nine percutaneous image-guided needle biopsies were performed in 57 children. The age of the children ranged from 4 days t o 14 years (mean 5.6 years). We used 16- to-20-gauge cutting-edge needles. Sixty-two biopsies were core-needle biopsies and 7 fine-needle aspiration b iopsies. Results. There were 50 malignant lesions, 10 benign lesions and 2 infectiou s lesions. In 55 (88.7%) lesions the needle biopsy was diagnostic. In 7 (11 .3%) the biopsy was non-diagnostic and the diagnosis was made by surgery. C ore-needle biopsy was diagnostic in 47 of 50 (94%) of the malignant solid t umors. In 3 out of 5 children with lymphoma, an accurate diagnosis was obta ined with needle aspiration. Seven children underwent a repeated core-needl e biopsy, (5 for Wilms' tumor and 2 for neuroblastoma) that was diagnostic in all cases. All the biopsies were performed without complications. Conclusion. Percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy is a simple, minimally invasive, safe and accurate method for the evaluation of children with susp icious masses. These data suggest that image-guided needle biopsy is an exc ellent tool for diagnosing solid tumors in the pediatric population. Negati ve studies should be considered nondiagnostic and followed by excisional su rgical biopsies when clinical suspicion of malignancy is high.