Computed-tomographic-guided minithoracotomy. A preliminary report of a new approach to open lung biopsy.

The authors describe a simple computed-tomographic method, using precise surface localization, to locate small subpleural nodules or pulmonary lesions. This permits a guided minithoracotomy for chest lesions which are not visible on plain radiographs or are considered inaccessible by percutaneous or transbronchoscopic biopsy.