ArticleQuantitative imaging in medicine and surgery2026
Multidimensional institutional learning curve of ultrasound-guided percutaneous transthoracic lung biopsy: a cumulative sum analysis with case-mix assessment.
Article in Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Ultrasound-guided percutaneous transthoracic lung biopsy (US-PTLB) provides real-time sampling of peripheral or subpleural lesions, but institutional adoption requires coordinated improvements in efficiency, targeting precision, and safety. We evaluated these domains using sequential cumulative sum (CUSUM) analysis. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from a prospectively maintained institutional registry, supplemented by routine procedural records, for 120 consecutive ultrasound-guided percutaneous transthoracic lung biopsies performed from August 2024 to October 2025. Total procedure time, needle trajectory deviation requiring redirection, and overall complications represented workflow efficiency, targeting precision, and patient-centered safety. Cubic polynomial smoothing identified descriptive candidate transitions, and Chow tests provided supportive within-cohort evidence of structural changes. Adjusted models evaluated associations with case sequence and measured case-mix factors. Results: Candidate transition points occurred at Case 40 for procedure time, Case 64 for trajectory deviation, and Case 75 for complications; all corresponding Chow tests yielded P<0.001. Across three descriptively defined phases, median procedure time was 22.2, 18.2, and 19.4 minutes (P<0.001), trajectory deviation decreased from 22.5% to 14.3% and 2.2% (P=0.017), and complications decreased from 30.0% to 20.0% and 6.7% (P=0.020). Case sequence remained associated with shorter procedure time after adjustment [coefficient, -0.037 minutes per case; 95% confidence interval (CI), -0.051 to -0.024; P<0.001]. Conclusions: Institutional learning was asynchronous across efficiency, targeting precision, and safety. Procedure time alone did not capture procedural maturity. Reductions in trajectory deviation and complications, with sampling quality preserved, support multidimensional registry-based monitoring. These data-derived transitions are institution-specific and require external validation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.