CT-guided transthoracic lung biopsy is a minimally invasive diagnostic technique for tissue detection of peripheral lung nodules. This can alternatively be carried out by surgery, but CT-guided transthoracic lung biopsy is proposed to be less invasive and correlated with lower costs. Therefore, in this study we aimed to evaluate complication rate of computed tomography (CT)-guided transthoracic lung biopsy. Methods: Five databases were searched from inception to December 2020 to identify

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... gations reporting complications in CT-guided lung biopsy. The extracted data of overall and major complication rates were pooled by the random-effects model. Risk factors for complications of FNA were evaluated by metaregression analysis. Results: Seventeen studies of complication rate of FNA were included in our meta-analysis. The pooled rate of major complication of FNA was 4.4 % (95 % CI: 2.7–7 %). The pooled rate of pneumothorax was 5 % (95 % CI: 3.1-8 %). Increased traversed lung parenchyma and smaller lesion size were risk factors for major complications. Conclusions: In CT-guided lung biopsy, major complication rate was low. Our study showed that in patients who underwent FNA, smaller nodule diameter, larger needle diameter and increased traversed lung parenchyma were associated with higher risk of complications.