Correlation between percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy and recurrence in stage I lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background To systematically evaluate the correlation between percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) and recurrence in stage I lung cancer. Methods The databases of PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data and China Biology Medicine disc were retrieved to collect relevant literatures about the correlation between PTNB and recurrence in stage I lung cancer. The retrieval time was limited from the time of their database establishment to April 30/2020.Screened the literature, extracted the data and assessed the quality of studies included. Then the meta-analysis was performed by using Stata l6.0 software. Results A total of 8 cohort studies involving 2760 lung cancer patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that PTNB did not increase the risk of total recurrence and pleural recurrence in the patients with stage I lung cancer. The result of subgroup analysis is according to the tumor location. For stage I lung cancer, PTNB will increase the risk of pleural recurrence in patients with sub-pleural lesions but not in those without sub-pleural lesions. Conclusions To stage I lung cancer, PTNB is not associated with the total recurrence and pleural recurrence but PTNB will increase the risk of pleural recurrence in patients with sub-pleural lesions.