Diagnostic value of ultrasound guided biopsy in patients with malignant pleural effusion

Diagnostic Yield and Safety of Image-Guided Pleural Biopsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

Diagnostic yield (DY) and safety of computed tomography (CT)- and thoracic ultrasound (TUS)-guided biopsies in the diagnosis of pleural lesions have been investigated in a number of studies, but no synthesis of data from the literature has ever been performed.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to provide the first systematic review and meta-analysis on the DY and safety of CT- versus TUS-guided biopsy in the diagnosis of pleural lesions.

METHOD

We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for all studies reporting outcomes of interest published up to April 2018. Two authors reviewed all titles/abstracts and retrieved selected full text to identify studies according to predefined selection criteria. Summary estimates were derived using the random-effects model. Cumulative meta-analysis assessed the influence of increasing adoption of the procedures over time.

RESULTS

Thirty original studies were included in the present review; the number of studies on TUS-guided biopsy was almost three-fold higher than those on CT-guided biopsy. The pooled DYs of the 2 procedures were overall excellent and differed <10%, being 84% for TUS-guided biopsy and 93% for CT-guided biopsy. Safety profiles were reassuring for both the techniques, being 7 and 3% for CT- and TUS-guided biopsy, respectively. DY of ultrasound technique significantly improved over time, while no time effect was observed for CT-guided biopsy.

CONCLUSIONS

Data show that CT- and TUS-guided biopsies in the diagnosis of pleural lesions are both excellent procedures, without meaningful differences in DYs and safety. Considering that TUS is non-ionizing and easily performed at the bedside, it should be the preferred approach in presence of adequate skills.