Nuclear scan-guided rib biopsy

The bone scan is a sensitive screening device that is frequently used to stage the condition of patients with known or suspected malignant disease. Abnormal findings on bone scan are associated with corresponding normal findings on radiographs in approximately 50% of cases. Definitive tissue diagnosis of the bone lesion is often needed to determine optimal therapy, but localization of the lesion is imprecise unless it is palpable. Use of the nuclear scan to localize and mark the rib enhances the precision of the biopsy procedure. Thirty-three consecutive patients with cancer who had bone scans suggestive of rib abnormalities underwent nuclear scan-guided biopsy. Each patient had a repeat localizing scan with a maximum permissible dose of technetium 99m radionuclide on the day of the planned biopsy. The site of abnormality was marked with methylene blue injected into the skin overlying the lesion and down to the periosteum at the specific site. The patient was then taken to the operating room and the marked area was excised through a small incision. Pathologic abnormality was identified in all but one of the resected specimens, an accuracy rate of 97%. Despite a presumed or proved diagnosis of cancer in 33 patients, 16 specimens (48%) were benign. There were no complications associated with this technique, which reduces the morbidity and increases the precision of rib biopsy.