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Vertebral Biopsy

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So let's look at a video of ir guided for

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table biopsy.

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So we have a 44 year old male with history of Ivy drug

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use hepatitis C not presenting to the emergency room

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with two days of worsening back pain and chills. So the patient was admitted

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two months prior actually for similar pain that was diagnosed at

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that time with thoracic spinal osteomyelitis slasheditis.

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So he had no

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end to desectomy with Fusion at that time. But since then has

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had some aching back pain with cycles of fever and chills. So

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when he presidents the emergency room what we

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see is a temperature of 102 degrees Fahrenheit physical examination

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was noted for limited range of trunk mobility

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and pain to palpation over Tha slash

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T9 vertebra. So the white count on this

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patient actually is particularly elevated 12,000 the

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urethral site that a meditation rate the

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ESR was actually elevated 39 as was the

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sea reactive protein at 16.4.

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Surgical biopsy specimen from the patient's prior Mission

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actually demonstrated the bacteria. That was

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particularly concerning.

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But the team was a little unclear if this might

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be a contaminant versus cause of the spinal

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infection. So what do we do in this particular

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setting Imaging actually was then employed an

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MRI specifically of the thoracic spine

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with and without contrast was then ordered so in the

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reading room, what do we see?

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So on this T2 enhanced image we see

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evidence of discitis and

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osteomyelitis as evidenced by Maru edema

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at the level of T8 and T9. We see

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near complete loss of this space

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height secondary to obliteration of the end plate

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and the disc and these are findings highly suspicious

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for the skydeus austinitis in the setting

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what's even more concerning is that there's some hansing inflammatory tissue

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within the ventral epidural space that is

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consistent with the flag one the inferior and

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plate of T9, but there was not thought to be a drainable collection

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Regional to this site.

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So infectious disease specialists are

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consulted and because of this recurrent awesome

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myelitis slash the skydis and what they recommend is

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a bone biopsy in order to guide antibiotic

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selection, then the patient is sent for CT guided

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procedure.

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So, how do we approach this here? We see the Scout topograph to

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the left of this patient. We see the hardware spinal

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fixation Hardware in this

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region just below the scouted region

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prior to starting the procedure. One of

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the things that we want to do is plan the biopsy route and so let's take

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a look. So this is that initial slice that's looked

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at on the Scout tomograph and a radio

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pick marker has been placed as in the previous case. We

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see the cranial card ad longitudinally

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oriented radio pick lines, the third

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medial radio pick marker is selected. And

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what we do is we draw a line right from that

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particular site to the area in

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question. So the three separate

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numbers we discussed before are again discuss now, we have

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the depth of the lesion from that

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great position.

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The third medial marker to the intended

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site in question. Once we then have

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identified those two things the grid position the

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depth of the lesion from the surface of the skin to

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the lesion in question. We then identify what

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slice in this case I 224 which

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is that index CT slice, which the lesion is best

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visualized. So what we do next

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of the lesion depth we have that grid marking

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and we have the actual CT slice.

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So now we want to mark that on the patient's skin.

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So we've marked it on the patient's skin nice Bullseye

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for us to begin preparing to

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perform our targeted tissue sampling

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procedure.

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Like before we want to make sure that we clean the skin

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chlorhexidine cross hatching technique.

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Once the skin is nicely cleaned. We

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then proceed with our four towel

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Border tomorrow after the skin has been

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marked and protected one of the things that's also

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done is once you clean the skin what should actually happen

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as you clean it to the point where the skin marking is

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actually blurred and so you use the

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back portion of the sterile marker at this particular point and

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just indent at that particular site to ensure

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that that intersection of those marks is

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seen which is the exact point that you want to begin your

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access from

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Sterile border is obtained.

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And once that's in place we drape the patient.

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In order to complete our sterile feel

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preparation.

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One part of the procedure is ensuring that the patients get the

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local anesthesia. They deserve whether that be one percent

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lidocaine slash ilocaine whether that be 2%

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We want to make sure that we're using local anesthetic

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at the skin and then deeper to the

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site in question. And then now let's review our table.

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So this is a little different than the previous

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table where we use a side cutting needle and

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we have a needle that's actually a bone biopsy

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needle 11 engage or 13 gauge. We

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have our sterile Mallet that's given to

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us in a sterile container from the central processing

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unit in the hospital, which is the same site that sterilizes

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surgical equipment. We have our blunt style

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land we have second plant or a bevel stylet

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that is more directional and then within the

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biopsy needle sense. Usually it's a diamond tipped biopsy needle

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and then of course, we have our local anesthetic ready to

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go.

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As before the biopsy track

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is anesthetized and the lidocaine needle is left in place to guide

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the biopsy needle through the same puncture site.

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And we position that so that it's right in plane with our

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laser guide from the CT.

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We then want to take control of the CT fluoroscopy

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control in a sterile manner.

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So as would have mentioned the needle is in place.

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We see our laser marker guide from the CT on

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the area that we would have marked on the needle

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from The Hub to the shop marking showing that

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we are nicely in plain in order to begin our procedure

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and lo and behold we perform me CT fluoroscopy

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at this particular level. And what do we see? We see

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our needle the shaft in the patient rightly in

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plain almost in a Costco transverse orientation

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where we see the middle border

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of the rib the transverse process in that

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region of that cost to transverse joint. Are

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we on track seems to be

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So now the Radiology prepares the biopsy needle by marking the appropriate

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depth on the needle. So if we would have obtained the depth from

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the skin to the side in question, we then

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want to take that same number and Mark that distance.

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From the needle tip to where

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that terminates on the shaft and what can be done is by

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using a little marker external to the patient so we

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know exactly when we've obtained that distance in

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question.

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And on this particular needle each of the

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gradations the markings represent a centimeter so

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we can even eyeball it from here if we knew what

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the number is and know if the radiologist was on track, perhaps we

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could even see it from the other side of the room.

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So now with the radiologist does is takes the initial

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lidocaine needle as a guide the biopsy needle is

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introduced the protected biopsy track. The lidocy needle

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is then removed.

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So that little top suggests that Boone has

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been hit and what we then do is then remove the lidocaine

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needle which was our sounding needle to ensure

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that we were in position.

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So the patient is placed back in the CT

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scanner. And what do we see? We see the laser marker from

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the CT scan directly corresponding with the

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Hub of the bone biopsy needle. This is the

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shaft showing that we are on the intended course.

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so once again

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We perform the CT scan at that level

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CG fluoroscopy. In this case. We see the needle external

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to the patient the needle through the soft tissues power

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spinal muscles and then into the area in question.

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We then perform advancement of the needle

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to the intended site. We're going

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to watch that red marker on the shaft

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the needle as the operator hammers the

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needle in place Advanced that red marker

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to the skin side.

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So once that needle is Advanced

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a bit check CT fluoroscopy to ensure

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that we are advancing as suggested and

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we're simultaneously visualizing that on our

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CT scan.

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Once we are at the point where we've broken into bone the

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blunt style that's often removed. So usually that

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is at the point where we entered into a place where

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we safe to then continue the advancement

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of the outer biopsy needle, which is actually what

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captures the tissue so initially, we have

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the outer biopsy needle and we have the inner

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stylet, which is actually either the diamond tipped

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or the bevel The Edge which is directional once we're

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in appropriate position. We remove the sharp inner

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Starlet and then we continue to advance with the outer needle

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to the site in question.

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Or holding on the needle to ensure that we don't dislodge it.

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As we remove the inner skylight.

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and then once we're in Striking Distance

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We then Advance just the needle by itself so

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that the tissue can be captured in

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the bore of the needle.

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stabilizing the needle with our hand

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advancing until we get flush with that red

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marker to the skin.

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Once that's in place we have that red marker

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by the skin.

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The radiologist confirms that we are actually on target with the

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needle tip.

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Which we are.

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And then what can then be done is applying a

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syringe to the back portion of the Hub and

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then aspirating on removal to

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ensure that that tissue that's interrupt or

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partially trapped in the needle

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itself actually stays in the hub so that it can

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then be harvested and removed from the body.

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Oftentimes that's locked in place.

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And then using two hands, we then sort

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of Jimmy the biopsy needle out of

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the bone.

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through the track

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ensuring that we do the safely.

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Once the biopsy needle has been successfully and

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safely removed. We can then deposit the contents of

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that property needle in the sterile

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container.

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We can take whatever was in that syringe and

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flush it in.

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That's sterile area.

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The next thing we do which is the most important portion is

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now we want to capture that tissue. That

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was actually the bone that we targeted that's

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now trapped in the bone biopsy needle.

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So now we want to replace the blunt style it

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and we want to gently advance that out of the

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biopsy needle so that we can capture that

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tissue there. We see

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the bone emanating from the tissue.

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And then we drop it like so into that sterile

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saline solution.

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harvesting and submission to our on-site

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nurse or our cytopathology team

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As per usual we then apply manual pressure in

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order to achieve hemastasis at our site and

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then we seal the area off with a clean

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sterile bandage.

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So in conclusion, the patient's aspirin in this particular setting as

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well as the core Rapture we're actually sent for one culture including

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fungal and anaerobic evaluation and

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about two weeks post procedure. There

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was no observe growth in any of the tested organisms

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per the Infectious Disease recommendations. The patient

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was given a course of Ivy penicillin just as

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empiric antibiotic coverage for that previously noted

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bacteria in question on the culture results from its

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prior admission.

Report

Faculty

Mikhail CSS Higgins, MD, MPH

Director, Radiology Medical Student Clerkships; Director, ESIR

Boston University Medical Center

Tags

Oncologic Imaging

Non-infectious Inflammatory

Musculoskeletal (MSK)

Interventional

Infectious

Iatrogenic

Fluoroscopy

CT

Bone & Soft Tissues