Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical lung biopsy appears safe for ILD diagnosis

Amongst patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) of unknown cause, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical lung biopsy (VATS-LB) may help aid in diagnosis while resulting in good patient survival, according to a study.

In this prospective study, a multidisciplinary discussion of 103 patients with ILD was undertaken prior to VATS-LB with a second multidisciplinary discussion occurring after the procedure to make a final diagnosis.

Overall, 84.4% of cases had a definitive diagnosis and 15.6% remained unclassifiable. In most cases (63.1%), the hypothesized diagnosis changed after VATS-LB. Treatment changes after VATS-LB were noted in 39.8% of patients. One patient died due to acute exacerbation. Postoperative neuropathic pain was reported in 5% of patients at 1 month and 2% of patients at 3 months.

Reference

Radu D, Freynet O, Kambouchner M, et al. Diagnosis yield and safety of surgical biopsy in interstitial lung diseases: a prospective study. Ann Thorac Surg. 2021;S0003-4975(21)01672-6. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2021.08.056. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34599907.