Application of laser navigation system in percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy based on a SPECT/CT platform

Objective To evaluate the value of a novel laser navigation system (LNS) designed for a SPECT/CT platform in improving efficiency of molecular imaging-guided percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB). Methods From January 2017 to October 2017, a total of 25 patients (17 males, 8 females, age (58.9±10.8) years) with thoracic lesions suspicious for malignancy underwent 99Tcm-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (MIBI) SPECT/CT-guided PTNB, and the hyperactivity areas were chosen as the sampling areas. Thirteen patients underwent traditional free hand puncture (control group), and 12 patients had LNS-assisted puncture (LNS group). The operation time, CT-guided times, average effective radiation dose of the two methods were compared. Two-sample t test was used to analyze the data. Results Comparing to control group, LNS-assisted PTNB puncture significantly reduced operation time ((7.6±2.2) vs (24.2±9.8) min; t=5.693, P<0.001), CT-guided times (1.9±0.9 vs 4.0±1.5; t=4.108, P<0.001) and average effective radiation dose ((7.7±0.9) vs (10.5±2.1) mSv; t=4.306, P<0.01). Conclusion The novel LNS is helpful in improving efficiency of molecular imaging-guided PTNB based on a SPECT/CT platform. Key words: Lung neoplasms; Biopsy, needle; Tomography, emission-computed, single-photon; Tomography, X-ray computed; Lasers; Technetium Tc 99m sestamibi