Conclusions:
Ultrasound-guided PCNB is safe and effective in diagnosing pediatric solid tumors, especially in malignancies.
INTRODUCTION
Obtaining specimen before treatment for diagnosis is important for cancer treatment, especially for patients who might benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Core needle biopsy (CNB) as an accurate and less invasive method has been utilized widely in diagnosis of adult tumors such as breast cancer1–3 and prostatic cancer4,5. The use of CNB is limited in diagnosis of pediatric solid tumors as people concern about the safety of the procedure itself and the sufficiency of specimen for accurate diagnosis, although previous studies suggest that CNB is both safe and effective6–11. In recent years ultrasound-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy (PCNB) has been used more and more frequently in diagnostics of pediatric solid tumors in our center as it is less invasive than an incisional biopsy and children are not exposed to radiation under ultrasound. However, reports relating to its reliability in clinical practice are limited. As pediatric solid tumors are rare, most studies are done in small groups. Besides few researchers used surgical pathology as the sole gold standard for success to assess the accuracy of PCNB. Most used excisional pathological diagnoses as well as follow-up outcomes to evaluate the success rate of CNB. In this study, a 7-year retrospective study of children undergoing PCNB for diagnosis of solid tumors at our center was conducted. Using surgical pathology as the gold standard, we aim to investigate the reliability of ultrasound guided PCNB in diagnosing pediatric solid tumors
METHODS