Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of precautionary positioning in preventing the development of pneumothorax and reducing the rate of chest tube placement after fluoroscopy-guided transthoracic needle biopsy (TTNB).
Material and Methods: One hundred and seven patients who underwent TTNB were randomly assigned to one of two postbiopsy treatment groups: patients were placed with (precautionary positioning group) and without (non-precautionary positioning group) recumbent puncture site either down (n = 59 and 48, respectively) for at least 30 min.
Results: The overall pneumothorax rate was 8.4% (n = 9). Four of the 9 patients needed chest tube insertion. Pneumothorax rate was 8.33% (4/48) and 8.47% (5/59) in the precaution and non-precaution groups, respectively. Rate of chest tube insertion was 6.25% (n = 3) and 1.85% (n = 1) in the precaution and non-precaution groups, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of pneumothorax and chest tube insertion between the two groups.
Conclusion: Precautionary positioning after TTNB does not reduce the incidence of postbiopsy pneumothorax and rate of chest tube insertion.