Table 4. Major complications of cryobiopsy.
| First author | Year | PTX: alla | PTX: chest tubeb | Serious bleedc | Escalation of cared | AE | Death | Overall CR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babiak (1) | 2009 | 2 (4.8%) | 2 (4.8%) | 0 | – | – | – | 2 (4.8%) |
| Griff (4) | 2011 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 |
| Kropski (30) | 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (8%) | – | – | 2 (8%) |
| Fruchter (31) | 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 |
| Fruchter (32) | 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 (2.5%) |
| Yarmus (33) | 2013 | 1 (4.8%) | 1 (4.8%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (4.8%) |
| Casoni (25) | 2014 | 19 (28%) | 14 (20%) | 1 (4%) | – | 1 (4%) | 1 (4%–AE) | 20 (29%) |
| Griff (34) | 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 (0%) |
| Pajares (29) | 2014 | 3 (8%) | ? | 0 | 3 (8%) | – | 0 | 3 (8%) |
| Fruchter (35) | 2014 | 2 (2.6%) | ? | 3 (4%) | – | 0 | 0 | 5 (7%) |
| Pourabdollah (36) | 2014 | (No safety data reported) | ||||||
| Hernandez-Gonzales (37) | 2015 | 4 (12%) | 1 (3%) | 0 | 1 (3%) | 0 | 0 | 4 (12%) |
| Hagmeyer (38) | 2015 | 6 (19%)e | 6 (19%) | 2 (6%)f | – | – | – | 8 (26%) |
| Gershman (39) | 2015 | 15 (5%) | 6 (2%) | 16 (5%)g | 10 (3%) | – | 0 | 47 (15.5%) |
| Ravaglia (5) | 2016 | 60 (20%) | 46 (15.5%) | 0 | ?h | 1 (0.3%) | 1 (0.3%–AE)i | 66 (22%) |
| Ramaswamy (40) | 2016 | 11 (20%) | ? | 1 (2%) | – | 0 | 0 | 12 (22%) |
| Tomassetti (41) | 2016 | 19 (33%) | 15 (25%) | 0 (0%) | 7 (12%) | 1 (1.7%) | 1 (1.7%–AE)i | 19 (33%) |
| Hagmeyer (42) | 2016 | 5 (26%) | 4 (21%) | 8 (42%) | – | 1 (2%) | 1 (2%–AE + MI) | – |
| Echevarria (43) | 2016 | 3 (3%) | 3 (3%) | 10 (10%) | – | – | 1 (1%–PTX, cancer) | 16 (16%) |
| Sriprasart (44) | 2017 | 5 (7%) | 5 (7%) | 1 (1%) | 8 (11%) | – | 3 (4%–AS, OP, PE) | 8 (11%) |
| DiBardino (45) | 2017 | 2 (8%) | 1 (4%) | 3 (12%) | 6 (24%) | – | 0 | 6 (24%) |
| Bango-Alvarez (46) | 2017 | 5 (4.7%) | ? | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 5 (5%) |
| Kronborg (47) | 2017 | 10 (26%) | 8 (21%) | 3 (8%) | – | 0 | 0 | 18 (47%) |
| Berim (48) | 2017 | – | – | 2 (20%) | – | – | – | 2 (20%) |
| Ravaglia (49) | 2017 | 7 (16%) | ? | 0 | – | – | 0 | 7 (16%) |
| Ussavarungsi (50) | 2017 | 1 (1.4%) | 1 (1.4%) | 9 (12%) | 2 (3%) | – | 0 | 12 (16%) |
Complication rates expressed as: incident number (percent of all cases). a, all reported pneumothoraces; b, pneumothoraces requiring chest tube thoracostomy drainage; c, serious bleeding enumerated here if author defined it as serious according to society guideline, additional airway intervention or other additional procedure was performed (i.e., bronchial blockade, rigid bronchoscopy, tranexamic acid administration), or respiratory failure or death resulted; d, outpatient to inpatient; inpatient floor to intensive care unit; if specified by author; e, in small subgroup utilizing rigid bronchoscopy with jet ventilation, PTX rate was 43%; f, two subjects required rigid bronchoscopy to control bleeding; authors reported 17 of 31 cases had “severe” bleeding by BTS criteria (51) but state it was controlled by bronchoscopic tamponade in all but the two rigid cases; g, no significant difference in serious bleeding rates between cryobiopsy and traditional forceps transbronchial biopsy (TBB) in this analysis; h, sixteen of 297 discharged day-of; unclear how many were planned admissions or already inpatient; i, not clear whether this is a new post-procedure death related to acute exacerbation of underlying diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD) or the same death reported by Casoni (25). PTX, pneumothorax; AE, acute exacerbation of underlying diffuse parenchymal lung disease; CR, complication rate; MI, myocardial infarction; AS, aortic stenosis; OP, organizing pneumonia; PE, pulmonary embolism.