The Annals of thoracic surgery
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Comparative Study
Surgical biopsy of suspected interstitial lung disease is superior to radiographic diagnosis.
Different modalities are used to diagnose interstitial lung disease. We compared the effectiveness of minimally invasive surgical biopsy versus high-resolution computed tomography for the diagnosis of interstitial lung disease and report the mortality of the procedure. ⋯ Surgical biopsy should remain the gold standard for diagnosis of interstitial lung disease. The mortality is low with proper patient selection. More than two surgical biopsy specimens may not be needed because the concordance rates among pathologic specimens are very high.
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We have shown previously that technical performance score (TPS) is strongly associated with early mortality and major postoperative adverse events in a diverse group of patients. We now report evaluation of the validity of TPS in predicting late outcomes in the same group of patients. ⋯ The TPS has a strong association with late outcomes across a wide range of age and disease complexity and may serve as a tool to identify patients who are at a higher risk for late reintervention or mortality.