Purpose: To investigate the clinical background of needle biopsy of suspected bone metastasis under guidance with CT fluoroscopy.
Patients and methods: During a 3-year period (from April 2000 to March 2003), 103 needle biopsies on 101 lesions of 90 patients were performed for pathological evaluation of suspected bone metastasis. The clinical course of these patients prior to biopsy and its relation to the biopsy results were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: Sixty-two patients (69% of total cases) were referred for biopsy from orthopedic surgeons, and 51 of these patients consulted orthopedic surgeons on the initial presentation. Malignancy was pathologically proved in 47 (76%) of the 62 orthopedic patients, and in 19 (68%) of the 28 patients referred from other clinicians. Thirteen (21%) of the orthopedic patients had a history of malignancy, while 22 (78%) of the non-orthopedic patients were cancer patients. Metastasis was pathologically proved in 23 (66%) of the 35 patients with a history of malignancy, while malignancy was pathologically proved in 43 (78%) of the 55 patients without known malignancy. Diagnostic accuracy of the needle bone biopsy was 96%, and its complication rate was 0.7%.
Conclusion: In the era of CT fluoroscopy, needle biopsy for suspected bone metastasis was most frequently requested for the patients who consulted orthopedic surgeons for the occurrence of local bone pain as the initial symptom of unknown malignancy. Frequency of malignancy proved by the biopsy in those patients was as high as that in the cancer patients referred from other clinicians.