Abstract
Objectives
To review fine-needle aspiration biopsy-(FNAB) diagnosis of malignant lymphoma retrospectively to determine the diagnostic accuracy and pitfalls.
Methods
68 cases of malignant lymphoma and 52 cases of non-malignant lymphoma were identified between 1997 and 2004. All cases were recognized as cervical lymphadenopathy and evaluated by FNAB. Open biopsies were also performed to obtain final diagnoses. Malignant lymphomas were subclassified according to World Health Organization classifications. We compared the FNAB and final diagnostic results to determine the diagnostic accuracy and examine the false negative cases.
Results
41(60%) cases had a positive diagnosis of malignant lymphoma, 21(31%) had a suspicious diagnosis, and 6(9%) had a false negative diagnosis. On histological examinations, diffuse large B cell lymphomas yielded a high positive diagnosis, whereas follicular lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease had less positive diagnosis and there were also false negative cases. 14(39%) lymphadenitis cases had a suspicious diagnosis and some cases were difficult to differentiate from malignant lymphoma.
Conclusions
FNAB is considered a useful and efficient method of estimating malignant lymphoma but diagnostic accuracy varied among lymphoma subtypes. We should remain aware of the existence of false negative cases when using this diagnostic method.
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