This study surveyed the thoracic radiologists in Korea in order to determine how they performed percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy of pulmonary lesions.

In February 2006, fifty questionnaires were mailed to the members of the Society of Thoracic Radiology in the Republic of Korea (KSTR), and these doctors worked in academic and community hospitals. The survey consisted of multiple-choice questions regarding the radiologist's approach to a transthoracic needle biopsy (the type of practice, the imaging guidance technique, the biopsy technique, monitoring during the procedure, the assessment of pneumothorax after the procedure and the diagnostic accuracy) on the basis of the guidelines of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS)/American Thoracic Society (ATS).

A total of 39 (66.1%) KSTR members responded. For the biopsy guidance, 16(41.0%) responder performed the procedure under CT guidance, 19(48.7%) responders performed the procedure under fluoroscopy guidance only and 4(10.3%) responders performed the procedure under either CT or fluoroscopy guidance. Fine-needle aspiration was the procedure of choice for eight (20.5%) respondents, whereas 31(79.5%) preferred performing a cutting needle biopsy. Before doing the procedure, 38(97.4%) institutions performed coagulation tests. All the respondents routinely performed follow-up imaging to determine the presence of a pneumothorax. PTNB has an overall diagnostic sensitivity of 95.8%, a specificity of 100%, a positive predictive value of 100%, a negative predictive value of 93.9% and an accuracy of 92.4%.

Although the KSTR members already perform PTNB according to the BTS or ERS/ATS guidelines with excellent results, this survey could be a cornerstone for formulating PTNB guidelines (indications, contraindications, the pre-investigation and post observation after PTNB) in Korea.