# Core-needle biopsy of lung ground-glass nodules: 94.6% accuracy vs 85.7% for aspiration, more bleeding

- Published: 2026-11-12 04:08 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Medicine
- Tags: pulmonary ground-glass nodules, CT-guided percutaneous biopsy, core-needle biopsy, fine-needle aspiration, diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, intrapulmonary hemorrhage, hemoptysis, pneumothorax, inverse probability weighting
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-3904c2cbdcdd083c8c664f78_core_needle_biopsy/

**In 538 patients with lung ground-glass nodules, core-needle biopsy was more accurate than fine-needle aspiration in unadjusted analysis, but bleeding complications were more frequent.**

![Core-needle biopsy of lung ground-glass nodules: 94.6% accuracy vs 85.7% for aspiration, more bleeding](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/01fdb556427e3cd0.jpg)
*bioengineer.org*

A group led by Li S. compared two CT-guided percutaneous techniques for sampling pulmonary ground-glass nodules (GGNs): core-needle biopsy (CNB) and fine-needle aspiration (FNA). The results were published in the journal Cancer Imaging. The authors screened consecutive patients who underwent biopsy of GGNs between January 2021 and August 2022. Of 657 patients assessed, 538 were included: 448 in the CNB group and 90 in the FNA group [1].

## Diagnostic performance of CNB and FNA

Final diagnoses were established by surgical pathology or by imaging follow-up of at least 12 months. Six FNA results were classified as atypical cells. The authors considered them indeterminate and excluded them from the binary diagnostic-performance analyses, which left 532 classifiable cases [1].

Across these 532 biopsies, the overall accuracy was 93.2%, the sensitivity 91.4% and the specificity 100.0%, based on the composite reference standard [1]. Percutaneous biopsy therefore gave a determinate result for most nodules.

In unadjusted comparison, CNB showed higher accuracy than FNA: 94.6% versus 85.7% (P = 0.007). Its sensitivity was also higher: 93.2% versus 82.4% (P = 0.008) [1].

## Bleeding complications and study limits

Complications were assessed in the full cohort of 538 procedures using multivariable logistic regression and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). CNB was associated with higher odds of intrapulmonary hemorrhage (adjusted odds ratio 2.91; P < 0.001) and of hemoptysis (adjusted odds ratio 3.07; P < 0.001). No statistically significant association with pneumothorax was observed [1].

The authors note that the diagnostic-performance analyses were not adjusted for baseline differences between the groups. For this reason, they say, the apparent diagnostic advantage of CNB should be interpreted cautiously. The groups were also unequal in size, with 448 CNB procedures against 90 FNA procedures [1].

The authors conclude that the choice of biopsy technique should be individualized according to lesion characteristics and patient-specific risks [1].

## Sources

1. [Cancer Imaging](https://doi.org/10.1186/s40644-026-01108-7)
2. [bioengineer.org](https://bioengineer.org/core-needle-lung-nodule-biopsy-outperforms-aspiration-but-increases-bleeding-risks)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-3904c2cbdcdd083c8c664f78_core_needle_biopsy/