Intraindividual comparison of histopathological diagnosis obtained by stereotactic serial biopsy to open surgical resection specimen in patients with intracranial tumours.

Background: There are concerns in the literature about the accuracy of histopathological diagnosis obtained by stereotactic biopsy in patients with brain tumours. The aim of this study was to analyse intraindividually the histopathological accuracy of stereotactic biopsies of intracerebral lesions in comparison to open surgical resection.

Materials And Methods: Between 2007 and 2011 a total of 635 patients underwent stereotactic serial biopsy in our department. Among these patients we identified 51 patients, who underwent magnetic resonance (MR) based stereotactic biopsy and subsequent open resection within 30 days. Mortality and morbidity data as well as final histopathological diagnoses of both procedures were compared with regard to tumour grade and tumour cell type. Patients with discrepancies between the histological diagnosis obtained by biopsy and open resection were classified into three subgroups (same cell type but different grading; same grading but different cell type and different grading as well as different cell type).

Results: The mean number of tissue samples taken by stereotactic serial biopsy from each patient was 12 (range 7-21). Minor morbidity was 6% and major morbidity was 14% after open surgery compared to no morbidity after stereotactic biopsy. Mortality was 2% after stereotactic biopsy (one patient died after stereotactic biopsy as a result of a fatal bleeding) compared to 0% in the resection group. Silent bleeding rate without any clinical symptoms was 8% in the biopsy group. A complete correlation of histopathological findings between the biopsy group and the resection group was achieved in 76% and was increased to 90% by analyzing clinical and neuroradiological information. In patients with recurrence the correlation was higher (94%) than for patients with primary brain lesions (67%). The discrepancies between the open resection group and biopsy group were analysed.

Conclusion: Stereotactic MR guided serial biopsy is a minimal invasive procedure with low morbidity and high diagnostic accuracy for diagnosis and grading of brain tumours. Diagnostic accuracy of stereotactic biopsy can be enhanced further by careful interpretation of neuroradiological and clinical information.