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Study: Fine needle aspiration biopsy produces variable results
Br J Ophthalmol. 2010;94(1):128-130.
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Fine needle aspiration biopsy may yield a reliable diagnosis in metastatic/secondary and primary orbital malignancies, but concordance between histopathological and cytopathological diagnoses is variable, according to a study.
Researchers looked at tumors excised from 68 prospectively followed patients and performed fine needle aspiration on the removed growth, thus eliminating potential sampling error. Biopsy results were compared with histological examination. Six of the removed lesions were too small to perform a reliable fine needle aspiration biopsy.
Of the remaining 62 lesions, the diagnoses matched in 14 of 14 metastatic/secondary and in 17 of 27 primary orbital malignancies. In addition, the diagnoses matched in all 10 cases of mass-forming inflammatory lesions. However, of 11 primary benign tumors, only two fine needle aspiration biopsies yielded the same diagnosis.
Cytology proved least reliable in differentiating lymphomas in the study, the authors noted. While cytopathological biopsy provided an overall impression of lymphoproliferative malignancy, the test yielded too small a tissue sample for more precise diagnosis.