Patient Data
Chest CT scan shows a mass of soft tissue in anterior left intercostal space that had enhancement (previous study, not shown here). Core needle is positioned at a low angle with chest wall using a sternal edge to support and guide a safe path.
Case Discussion
This patient had been treated for left breast cancer and, on her follow up CT, a left anterior intercostal mass was noted. The oncologist demanded histopathology of this lesion.
We tried first an ultrasound-guided approach, but the lesion was not well defined in this imaging modality. So we opted for a CT-guided biopsy.
For a safe approach avoiding lung or heart, the core needle was introduced in a right paramedian point, with a low angle with chest wall, in a way that it would do a long subcutaneous path using sternal edge to support and guide it.
The pathological examination confirmed breast cancer metastasis.