Accuracy of the Jamshidi trocar biopsy in the diagnosis of bone tumors.

Obtaining a histologic diagnosis is crucial in patients presenting with a tumor or a tumorous condition of the bone. The incisional surgical and the closed trocar biopsy are the most frequently used techniques for obtaining a representative tissue sample for histologic evaluation. This study reports on the reliability of 270 Jamshidi trocar biopsies performed on 258 patients with osseous tumors and tumorlike lesions. All patients were evaluated clinically and radiographically by a team consisting of an orthopaedic surgeon, a radiologist, and a surgical pathologist. In nearly all cases the biopsy and the resection were performed by the same orthopaedic surgeon. The biopsy site was determined in accordance with the planned subsequent resection surgery. Overall, an accurate diagnosis could be reached in 90.7% of the total number of 270 Jamshidi biopsies and in 95% of the 258 patients. The failure rate of the 270 biopsies was 9.3%. No specific contraindications with regard to the kind of lesion were found. Except for the pelvis, the localization of the lesion did not influence the rate of success. The high accuracy of the trocar biopsy, combined with the advantages of this technique over the incisional surgical biopsy, makes it a safe, fast, and adequate technique for obtaining a histologic sample of a bone tumor.