Abstract:Objective To evaluate the influencing factors and skills and safety of ultrasound-guided transthoracic biopsy for peripheral pulmonary lesions. Methods The pathological results of 177 patients with suspected peripheral pulmonary lesions who underwent ultrasound-guided transthoracic biopsy were retrospectively analyzed. Factors including age, gender, position during biopsy, biopsy site, lesion size, puncture angle, number of needle passes and needle size that could influence the biopsy efficacy were analyzed. Results Among the 177 patients, there were 70 cases of malignant lesions, 83 benign lesions and 24 indeterminate lesions, and the biopsy efficacy was 86.44% (153/177). The age, gender, biopsy site, puncture angle, number of needle passes and needle size had no impact on the biopsy efficacy (P > 0.05). The biopsy efficacy of lesion sizes larger than 50 mm and of 26-50 mm was significantly higher than that of those smaller than 26 mm (P < 0.05). For position during biopsy, supine and sitting positions were better than side-lying position (P < 0.05). The biopsy efficacy of 16 G needle was greater than that of 18 G needle (P < 0.05). Besides, the incidence of complications was 5.65% (10/177). Conclusions The lesion size and position during biopsy are the main influencing factors of ultrasound-guided transthoracic biopsy for peripheral pulmonary lesions. Therefore, the normative procedures could provide reliable basis and guidance for clinical diagnosis and treatment.