Radiology, Vol 188, 549-552, Copyright © 1993 by Radiological Society of North America
CT-guided bone biopsy performed by means of a coaxial biopsy system with an eccentric drill
KH Ahlstrom and KG Astrom
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Akademiska Sjukhuset, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
Thirty-seven consecutive bone biopsies guided with computed tomography were
performed in 32 patients by use of three different techniques to penetrate
cortical bone and gain access to the lesion. The following instruments were
used: a thin bone biopsy needle (12 biopsies), a conventional drill with an
outer cannula (six biopsies), and a coaxial biopsy system that consists of
a drill with an eccentric tip and an outer cannula (19 biopsies). This
eccentric drill makes a hole in the bone larger than the diameter of the
cannula and thereby makes it easy to advance the cannula over the drill
until the cannula is anchored in the bone. One can then obtain multiple
samples through the cannula. The thin bone biopsy needle could not
penetrate thick (8 mm thick) cortical bone. The outer cannula was not
anchored in the bone when the conventional drill was used. In 16 biopsies,
the new coaxial biopsy system penetrated cortical bone with a thickness of
1-8 mm and was anchored there, and lesion samples were obtained through the
anchored cannula.
