ABSTRACT
Percutaneous nonoperative procedures were first reported in the late 1800s. Leyden (1) was probably the first to perform a transthoracic needle biopsy to confirm the presence of a pulmonary infection. The lack of small-caliber needles, causing a high rate of complications, and the difficulties pathologists had making a diagnosis from small samples or smears were responsible for the fact that these percutaneous diagnostic procedures did not experience widespread use until the 1960s. At that time Dahlgren and Nordenström (2) introduced small-gauge needles, reducing the rate of pneumothorax, popularizing the technique of transthoracic fine needle sampling of the chest. At the same time, the first report on the use of fluoroscopy during transthoracic needle biopsy was published (3). Not until the late 1970s, however, did imaging-guided percutaneous insertion of drainage catheters in fluid collections of the lung and pleura become a routine procedure (4). Fluoroscopy was initially the method of choice, but now many imaging techniques, including ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance (MR), are used to guide interventional procedures.
