Abstract
BACKGROUND: Computed tomography-guided needle biopsy (CTNB) is a well-established and commonly used technique for diagnosing pulmonary nodules with high accuracy and safety. Needle-tract implantation after CTNB has been reported in various reports. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether preoperative CTNB affected the distant metastasis and overall survival in pathological stage I-II lung cancer patients. METHODS: A total of 1,234 patients with pathological stage I-II non-small cell lung cancer were collected. 113 patients received preoperative CTNB, and 1,121 patients did not receive any biopsy before surgical resection. Propensity score-matching method was adopted to balance observed covariates between two groups, 113 pairs were matched. Cox regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier estimates were used to process survival analysis. RESULTS: Distant metastasis free survival (DMFS) was significantly poorer in the preoperative CTNB group than in the non-biopsy group (P=0.032). But there was no difference in the overall survival between the two groups (P=0.086). CONCLUSIONS: CTNB increased the risk of distant metastasis, not increasing the risk of mortality.