[Fine needle biopsy in diagnosis of cervical lymph node changes]

In this study the validity and specificity of fine needle aspiration biopsy in cervical lymph node disease was examined. From 1983 to 1989, 495 outpatients were subjected to fine needle aspiration biopsies. One hundred and seven of the smears were not usable due to insufficient material. Tumour cells were found in 124 of the remaining 388 smears. In 117 of these cases the cytological findings were confirmed by later histology or clinical history. In the 7 remaining cases the cytological diagnosis of malignant lymphoma was disproved by histology. There were 38 (14%) false-negative diagnoses in 264 smears without tumour cells. In most of these cases the patient had undergone prior surgical or radiation therapy or had a malignant lymphoma. In spite of this relatively high number of false-negative results fine needle aspiration biopsy is helpful in the diagnosis of cervical lymph node disease. It must be emphasized that it is a screening method only: in the diagnosis of a tumour the method can only confirm and never disprove the clinical suspicion of malignancy.