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Aim: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous cutting needle biopsy (PCNB) for thymic tumours in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) classification. Material and methods: We retrospectively analysed a consecutive series of 138 cases in which CT-guided PCNB had been performed for an anterior mediastinal tumour. Its sensitivity and specificity for thymic epithelial tumours were evaluated, and the concordance between the histopathological diagnosis according to the WHO classification of thymic tumours based on PCNB and the diagnosis is based on the surgical specimens was assessed by Kappa statistic. Results: The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of CT-guided PCNB for thymic tumours were 93.3 and 100%, respectively. The overall concordance between the diagnosis according to the WHO classification established by PCNB specimen and by the surgical specimen was 79.4% (weighted kappa=0.79). Conclusion: CT-guided PCNB is a reliable method of diagnosing thymic tumours, and there was good concordance for the WHO classification between the diagnosis based on CT-guided PCNB specimen and that based on the surgical specimen. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]