A Comparison of Commonly Utilized Diagnostic Biopsy Techniques for Pediatric Patients With Cancer: A Systematic Review by the APSA Cancer Committee
Topic overview
Systematic review of 2477 pediatric cancer patients comparing core needle biopsy (CNB) to surgical biopsy found CNB achieved 90.8% diagnostic success with significantly lower complication rates (2.9% vs 21.4%). While surgical biopsy remains more diagnostic, CNB offers a safer alternative for initial tissue diagnosis in pediatric solid tumors.
Key takeaways
- Core needle biopsy achieved 90.8% diagnostic success vs 98.8% for surgical biopsy in pediatric solid tumors (p<0.001).
- Complication rates were significantly lower with CNB (2.9%) compared to surgical biopsy (21.4%), primarily due to reduced bleeding risk.
- CNB can be considered first-line for pediatric solid tumor diagnosis given lower morbidity, reserving surgical biopsy for failed CNB cases.
- Bleeding was the most common complication in both groups but occurred nearly 10 times more often after surgical biopsy (22.1% vs 2.3%).
- Study included 2477 patients across neuroblastoma, liver tumors, soft tissue sarcoma, and lymphoma diagnoses from 2010-2023 literature.
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