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Published on: July 25, 2015
Diagnostic effectiveness of sonography-assisted cutting needle biopsy in uncommon cervicofacial lesions
Jens Pfeiffer1, Gian Kayser, Gerd J Ridder
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Freiburg Medical School, Killianstrasse 5, Freiburg, Germany. pfeiffer@hno.ukl.uni-freiburg.de
Objective:
Persistent cervicofacial masses require tissue sampling to guide treatment. While open biopsy is invasive, fine-needle aspiration cytology is insufficient to establish a diagnosis in rare clinical or pathological conditions. The cutting needle biopsy (CNB) is not a widely used technique in the head and neck, and its diagnostic effectiveness in uncommon cervicofacial lesions has not been evaluated as yet.
Study Design:
This was a systematic clinicopathologic quality assessment study. We performed 347 CNBs in 160 patients with unclear masses including 29 patients in whom final diagnosis revealed rare conditions.
Results:
We experienced 100% success in obtaining high-quality tissue cores. CNB enabled accurate diagnosis even in highly exceptional lesions. One false negative result was recorded.
Conclusion:
Adequate assessment of rare lesions is one of the major benefits of CNB over fine-needle aspiration. CNB can therefore be recommended as the initial procedure in cervicofacial masses, even if an uncommon causation is presumed.