Analysis of lung nodules diagnosed by thoracoscopic lung biopsy

A study was undertaken to analyze pulmonary nodules diagnosed by thoracoscopic lung biopsy. Between April 2001 and September 2006, 98 adult patients (103 lung biopsy cases) with clinical diagnosis of pulmonary nodules by preoperative chest computed tomographic (CT) scanning were included in this study. The mean size of the tumor was 1.5 cm. The motive of consultation was medical checkup in 40 patients, follow up for other diseases in 40 patients. Indications for video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) were malignant findings on chest CT scanning in 42 patients, the ruling out of malignancy in 26 patients without malignant findings on chest CT scanning. 77 patients (75%) had malignant disease. 56 patients (55%) had primary lung cancer. For tumor sizes equal to or less than 2 cm, the rate of malignancy was 77%. Among primary lung cancer, most patients had primary adenocarcinoma (46 cases) (82%). Pathologic staging showed stage IA in 35 cases. We propose that thoracoscopic lung biopsy should be performed for peripheral lung nodules on the basis of these results. (author)