Comparison of laser-guided technology and conventional manual percutaneous lung biopsy: a single-center retrospective study

Background: Percutaneous lung biopsy (PLB) is currently widely utilized in the diagnosis and treatment of lung tumors, owing to its advantages of minimal trauma, high detection rate, and precise localization. However, traditional computed tomography (CT)-guided freehand PLB procedures often involve multiple puncture adjustments and a relatively high incidence of complications. The aim of this study is to investigate whether laser-guided technology can effectively reduce the operative time and incidence of complications.

Methods: This study included 141 patients who underwent CT-guided PLB at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between January 2022 and January 2024. These patients were divided into two groups based on the use of laser-guided technology during the procedure: the laser-guided group (47 patients) and the manual group (94 patients). Clinical data from all patients were collected. Information such as the success rate of biopsy procedures and the incidence of complications was analyzed and compared.

Results: The procedure time in the laser-guided group was shorter than that in the manual group (P=0.008). In the laser-guided group, the number of adjustments needed to reach the tumor during the positioning step was less than the manual group (P=0.001). In the laser-guided group, the number of CT scans performed before reaching the tumor was smaller than in the manual group (P=0.01). The distance from the first puncture to the lung tumor in the laser-guided group was closer than that in the manual group (P=0.049). The laser-guided group had a smaller angular deviation from the target at the first puncture than the manual group (P=0.004).

Conclusions: Laser-guided technology has the advantages of shorter operation time and less adjustment of biopsy needles. However, laser-guided technology does not reduce the complication rate of biopsy surgery or the length of hospital stay after surgery and there is no statistical difference in the accuracy of pathological diagnoses obtained by the two methods.

Keywords: Laser-guided technology; percutaneous lung biopsy (PLB); lung cancer; pulmonary nodules

 

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Key findings

• Laser-guided technology can reduce the operational time for percutaneous lung biopsy (PLB), the number of needle adjustments, and the frequency of computed tomography (CT) scans. Additionally, it can decrease the deviation in angle and distance during the initial puncture.

What is known and what is new?

• PLB is currently widely utilized in the diagnosis and treatment of lung tumors, owing to its advantages of minimal trauma, high detection rate, and precise localization. However, traditional CT-guided freehand PLB procedures often involve multiple puncture adjustments and a relatively high incidence of complications. The laser-guided technology can reduce procedure time of preoperative localization of pulmonary and ablation surgeries in orthopedics.

• In this study, we investigate whether laser-guided technology can effectively reduce the operative time and incidence of complications. The result indicates that the laser-guided technology can reduce the biopsy duration but cannot improve the incidence of complications.

What is the implication, and what should change now?

• Laser-guided technology has the advantages of shorter operation time and less adjustment of biopsy needles. Further research on laser-guided technology is needed in the future to explore its influence in puncture procedures.

Cite this article as: Li Z, Hu S, Leng L, Ding C, Zhao J, Ye L, Song X, Shen Z. Comparison of laser-guided technology and conventional manual percutaneous lung biopsy: a single-center retrospective study. J Thorac Dis 2025;17(3):1570-1579. doi: 10.21037/jtd-24-1812