Focal pulmonary lesions in patients with AIDS: percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy.

The authors performed percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) in 13 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and previously undiagnosed focal pulmonary lesions. Findings with PTNB were diagnostic in 11 of 13 cases. Complications included minimal hemoptysis in one case and small pneumothoraxes in two cases, one of which required chest tube drainage. The authors did not experience the high complication rate reported previously by some authors who used this diagnostic procedure in AIDS patients. In cases in which findings at fiberoptic bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsy and lavage failed to provide a diagnosis, PTNB provided a reliable, relatively safe diagnostic tool to establish the cause of pulmonary masses or focal infiltrates in AIDS patients.