CT-guided percutaneous biopsies in pediatric patients.

Twenty (5%) of 432 pediatric patients scanned during the last 36 months underwent percutaneous biopsy with CT guidance. Sixteen patients had suspected or a known malignancy. Four patients were clinically suspected of having an inflammatory process. Cytologic and histologic specimens were taken when technically possible. Total diagnostic tissue recovery rate equalled 88% in the patients with known or suspected malignancy. Diagnostic tissue was obtained in three of four patients with inflammatory disease. No immediate or delayed complications were encountered. Although the percutaneous method under CT guidance has been shown to be advantageous in various aspects of medical care, the utilization of this modality in the pediatric population, to our knowledge, has been limited. We have found this technique to be useful in the tissue diagnosis of pediatric disease, and in guiding the subsequent clinical treatment. The clinical indications, technique, and results utilizing this method are presented.