Role of brain biopsy in the management of focal brain lesions in HIV-infected patients. Gruppo Italiano Cooperativo AIDS & Tumori.
retrospective_cohort · Level III
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 10691003.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
In this multicenter, retrospective study of 160 brain biopsies in the assessment of HIV-related focal brain lesions, diagnostic sensitivity was acceptable (87%), but the procedure carried considerable morbidity (7.5%) and mortality (3.1%). Moreover, it is not always possible to initiate the changes in therapy indicated by the results, and overall survival remains poor, with a median of 2 months. Criteria for brain biopsy for the diagnosis of focal brain lesions should be redefined to include selected patients for whom a less invasive approach does not yield a definitive diagnosis.