Diagnostic accuracy and safety of ultrasound-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy among children with extra cranial solid masses at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

• Published in: Pakistan journal of medical sciences 2025-01, Vol.41 (1), p.219-224
• Main Authors: Imran, Fatima Ambreen, Razaque, Abdul, Mehwish Qureshi, Aisha, Rafie Raza, Muhammad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1682-024X; 1681-715X
• DOI: 10.12669/pjms.41.1.9777

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy and procedure safety of ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy of extra cranial solid masses in the pediatric population. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted by the Department of Pediatric Hematology /Oncology and Radiology at Indus Hospital and Health Network Karachi from August 2022 to April 2023. A total of 118 pediatric patients, from age one month to 18 years, with extra cranial solid masses were studied. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 24. Results: The median age of study participants was six years with IQR = 7.2 years. Among all study participants 62.7% (n=74) were male while 37.3% (44) were female. Out of all biopsies 94.07% (n=111) were conclusive and provided an accurate diagnosis of the tumor while only 5.63% (n=07) biopsies remained inconclusive. No serious post-procedure complication was reported. Pain on the site of biopsy was the most post-procedure complain reported by 34.7% (n=41) of all the study participants. Forty-two percent of the study participants never reported any post-procedure complaints after ultrasound-guided biopsy. The diagnostic accuracy was significantly higher for malignant lesions as compared to non-malignant lesions. Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy had high diagnostic accuracy and a good safety profile among children with extra cranial solid masses in private tertiary care hospital in Karachi Pakistan. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.41.1.9777 How to cite this: Imran FA, Razaque A, Qureshi AM, Raza MR. Diagnostic accuracy and safety of ultrasound-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy among children with extra cranial solid masses at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. 2025;41(1):219-224.  doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.41.1.9777 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.