Percutaneous core needle biopsy of neuroblastoma in the pediatric population: what have we learned in the last decade

Abstract

Introduction: Historically, neuroblastoma has been diagnosed by surgical open biopsy (SB). In recent decades, core needle biopsy (CNB) has replaced surgical biopsy due to its safe and adequate method of obtaining tissue diagnosis.

Aim: Our study aimed to assess the effectiveness of CNB in obtaining tissue diagnosis for neuroblastoma and evaluate its safety profile in terms of post-operative complications, in comparison to SB.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study, including all patients younger than 18 years who were diagnosed with neuroblastoma from 2012 until 2022 in a single tertiary medical center. Patients' demographics, tumor size and location, pathological results, and clinical outcomes were collected.

Results: 79 patients were included in our study: 35 biopsies were obtained using image-guided CNB and 44 using SB. Patients' and tumor characteristics including age, gender, tumor volume, and stage were similar in both groups. The biopsy adequacy rate in the CNB group was 91% and 3 patients in this group underwent repeated biopsy. The safety profile in the CNB group was similar to the SB group.

Conclusions: CNB is a safe method and should be considered the first choice for obtaining tissue diagnosis when feasible due to its high adequacy in terms of tumor histopathological features.

Keywords: Core-needle biopsy; Neuroblastoma; Percutaneous biopsy; Surgical biopsy.