Image-guided core-needle or surgical biopsy for neuroblastoma diagnosis in children
Topic overview
Systematic review comparing image-guided core-needle biopsy versus surgical biopsy for neuroblastoma diagnosis in 490 children. Both techniques achieved similar diagnostic accuracy (90% vs 98%), but image-guided biopsy had significantly fewer complications and lower transfusion rates, supporting its use as preferred diagnostic approach.
Key takeaways
- Image-guided core-needle biopsy achieves 90% tissue adequacy for neuroblastoma diagnosis, comparable to surgical biopsy (98%, p=.1)
- Surgical biopsy has 3.7× higher complication rate (21% vs 6%, p=.005) and 3.7× higher transfusion rate (22% vs 6%, p=.0002)
- Both biopsy methods provide similar adequacy for biological characterization (surgical 95% vs image-guided 89%, p=.15)
- Image-guided core-needle biopsy should be preferred over surgical biopsy for neuroblastoma workup when feasible
- Meta-analysis of 490 patients demonstrates image-guided biopsy is safer with equivalent diagnostic yield for pediatric neuroblastoma
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