Applications of Aspiration Lung Biopsy with A Review of the Literature

¹ The Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Cape Town., Chest Service, Bellevue Hospital, New York, New York.

1) The literature on aspiration lung biopsy is briefly reviewed.

2) In the present series 94 biopsies were performed on 73 persons.

3) The technique is described and the possible complications and dangers discussed.

4) Thirteen biopsies were performed on patients with normal lungs. Cultures were sterile. The various cells seen in the normal pulmogram are mentioned.

5) Twenty-nine biopsies were done on 24 patients for diagnostic purposes. These included cases of tuberculosis, unusual pneumonias, pulmonary infarction, rheumatic and uraemic lungs, peripheral carcinoma, amoebic abscess, bronchiectasis and lung abscess, and congenital cystic lung. In four cases asbestos bodies were present in the biopsy material as an incidental finding.

6) Twenty-seven lung biopsies were performed on 21 cases of acute lobar pneumonia, and 20 biopsies were done on 13 patients with chronic lobar pneumonia. The bacteriological and histological changes that were present before and after chemotherapy are described. The findings in the cases with delayed resolution are given and discussed. In the cases of acute pneumonia an attempt was made to relate the general condition of the patient and the physical signs in the chest to the underlying pathological process. The possibility of fitting the cases of chronic lobar pneumonia into a definite clinical group is discussed.

7) Aspiration lung biopsy is a useful diagnostic and research procedure.