Characteristics of patients, target lesions and procedure details
| Overall | Forceps biopsy | Cryobiopsy | p-value | |
| Subjects | 114 | 76 | 38 | |
| Patient characteristics | ||||
| Age years | 58.5 (49.8–68.3) | 60 (50–70) | 56 (47.8–64.5) | 0.210 |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 78 (68.4) | 53 (69.7) | 25 (65.8) | 0.669 |
| Female | 36 (31.6) | 23 (30.3) | 13 (34.2) | |
| Target lesion characteristics | ||||
| Size cm | 3.48 (2.63–4.51) | 3.50 (2.65–4.81) | 3.39 (2.59–4.19) | 0.637 |
| Lobe | ||||
| Upper lobe | 69 (60.5) | 46 (60.5) | 23 (60.5) | 0.976 |
| Middle lobe/lingular | 16 (14.1) | 11 (14.5) | 5 (13.2) | |
| Lower lobe | 29 (25.4) | 19 (25.0) | 10 (26.3) | |
| Location | ||||
| Inner third | 20 (17.5) | 15 (19.7) | 5 (13.2) | 0.172 |
| Middle third | 45 (39.5) | 33 (43.4) | 12 (31.6) | |
| Outer third | 49 (43.0) | 28 (36.8) | 21 (55.3) | |
| Orientation | ||||
| Concentric | 49 (43.0) | 35 (46.1) | 14 (36.8) | 0.248 |
| Eccentric | 47 (41.2) | 32 (42.1) | 15 (39.5) | |
| Adjacent | 18 (15.8) | 9 (11.8) | 9 (23.7) | |
| Procedure characteristics | ||||
| Time min | 45 (35.8–60) | 40.5 (35–51.5) | 50.0 (45–60) | <0.01 |
| Airway | ||||
| Transnasal | 91 (79.8) | 69 (90.8) | 22 (57.9) | <0.001 |
| Advanced airway | 23 (20.2) | 7 (9.2) | 16 (42.1) | |
| Fluoroscopy | 91 (79.8) | 56 (73.7) | 35 (92.1) | <0.05 |
| Guide sheath | 94 (82.5) | 72 (94.7) | 22 (57.9) | <0.001 |
Data are presented as n, median (interquartile range) or n (%), unless otherwise stated. Bold type represents statistical significance.