Percutaneous Needle Biopsy of the Lung

LUNG BIOPSY is an important diagnostic procedure for many diffuse and localized disease states involving the pulmonary parenchyma. It has been shown recently that percutaneous needle biopsy of the lung may be useful in the diagnosis of diffuse disease involving the lung.¹⁻⁴Inasmuch as this procedure has received recurrent criticism in the literature,⁵⁻⁸we believe that our experience with needle biopsy of the lung demonstrating a high diagnostic yield in association with low mobidity should be reported. This paper documents the results of 65 biopsies in 60 patients with diffuse pulmonary disease. This experience suggests that percutaneous needle biopsy of the lung with a Franklin-Silverman needle is a safe diagnostic procedure and that it should be attempted before doing surgical biopsy in patients with diffuse pulmonary disease. Materials and Methods Each patient was hospitalized at Wilford Hall USAF Hospital, Lackland Air Force Base, Tex. The patients selected for