CT-guided fine-needle aspiration and tissue-core biopsy of the lung lesions in dog and cat

Diagnosis of pulmonary lesions on the basis of history and physical examination is often challenging. Diagnostic imaging is therefore of paramount importance in this field. Radiology has traditionally been considered the elective diagnostic procedure for these diseases. Nonetheless it is often not possible to differentiate inflammatory/infectious lesions from neoplastic disease. A correct cyto-histopathological diagnosis is therefore needed for an accurate diagnosis and subsequent prognostic and therapeutic plan. In human medicine, CT and CT-guided biopsy are indicated in the presence of lesions which are not adequately diagnosed with other procedures. In the present study 38 dogs and 11 cats, of different sex, breed and size, underwent either CT-guided lung fine-needle aspiration (FNA), tissue-core biopsy (TCB) or both. Clinical examination, haematology and chest radiography were performed on all animals. In this study 46 samples out of 56 were diagnostic (82.14%). Ten cases, either due to uncertainty or because only blood was aspirated, were considered non diagnostic. Sixteen out of 49 cases showed complications (32.6%). Pneumothorax was seen in 13 cases and mild haemorrhage in three cases. No major complications were encountered.