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Thorax 1989;44:794-796; doi:10.1136/thx.44.10.794
Copyright © 1989 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Thoracic Society.

Comparison of the Tru-cut biopsy needle with the Abrams punch for pleural biopsy.

D T McLeod, I Ternouth, N Nkanza

Department of Medicine, Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine, University of Zimbabwe, Harare.

In a prospective study pleural biopsy specimens obtained with a Tru-cut needle were compared with those obtained with an Abrams pleural biopsy punch from 36 patients in Zimbabwe judged to have an effusion of at least 1.5 litres; one patient had two biopsies. Both instruments were used on each patient, the Abrams punch being followed by the Tru-cut needle. There were no serious complications. The diagnoses determined by biopsy were: tuberculosis (11); carcinoma (12); chronic inflammation (9); and pleural fibrosis (4); one biopsy showed nothing abnormal. In 23 (62%) patients both biopsy needles produced adequate diagnostic material; in eight the Tru-cut needle alone produced diagnostic material and in six the Abrams punch alone. Thus diagnostic material was obtained in 31 patients from the Tru-cut needle and in 29 from the Abrams punch. The Tru-cut needle was useful and safe for pleural biopsy in this series and appeared to be particularly useful when the pleura was thickened.


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Adams, R. F., Gleeson, F. V. (2001). Percutaneous Image-guided Cutting-Needle Biopsy of the Pleura in the Presence of a Suspected Malignant Effusion. Radiology 219: 510-514 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

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