Percutaneous core-needle biopsy before and immediately after coaxial microwave ablation in solid non-small cell lung cancer: the comparison of genomic testing from specimens

Abstract

Abstract Purpose To compare the genomic testing based on specimens obtained from percutaneous core-needle biopsy (CNB) before and immediately after coaxial microwave ablation (MWA) in solid non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to investigate the diagnostic performance of CNB immediately after coaxial MWA in solid NSCLC. Methods Coaxial MWA and CNB were performed for NSCLC patients, with a power of 30 or 40 watts (W) in MWA between the pre- and post-ablation CNB, followed by continuous ablation after the second CNB on demand. The paired specimens derived from the same patient were compared for pathological diagnosis and genomic testing. DNA/RNA extracted from the paired specimens were also compared. Results A total of 33 NSCLC patients with solid lesions were included. There were two patients (6.1%) without atypical cells and three patients (9.1%) who had the technical failure of genomic testing in post-ablation CNB. The concordance rate of pathological diagnosis between the twice CNB was 93.9% (kappa = 0.852), while that of genomic testing was 90.9% (kappa = 0.891). For the comparisons of DNA/RNA extracted from pre- and post-ablation CNB in 30 patients, no significant difference was found when the MWA between twice CNB has a power of 30 or 40 W and ablation time within five minutes (P = 0.174). Conclusions If the pre-ablation CNB presented with a high risk of pneumothorax or hemorrhage, the post-ablation CNB could be performed to achieve accurate pathological diagnosis and genomic testing and the maximum effect of ablation, which might allow for the diagnosis of genomic testing in 90.9% of solid NSCLC.