Lung Biopsy

Lung Biopsy: A lung biopsy is a medical procedure in which a small piece of tissue is taken from the lungs to check for diseases or problems. Doctors do this test when they need to find out why someone has symptoms like a persistent cough, chest pain, breathing trouble, or abnormal spots seen on an X-ray or CT scan.

There are different ways to take the sample:

• Needle biopsy – A thin needle is inserted through the chest into the lung.
• Bronchoscopic biopsy – A flexible tube with a camera (bronchoscope) is passed through the mouth or nose into the lungs to collect tissue.
• Surgical biopsy – Done in an operating room if a bigger sample is needed.

The collected tissue is sent to a lab, where it is examined under a microscope to look for infections, inflammation, or cancer. The procedure is usually done with local anesthesia (to numb the area) or sometimes general anesthesia, depending on the method used. After the biopsy, the patient may be monitored for a few hours to ensure there are no complications, like bleeding or a small air leak from the lung.

In simple terms, a lung biopsy helps doctors “look inside” the lungs at a microscopic level, so they can find the exact cause of lung problems and decide on the best treatment.