Ultrasonically guided fine-needle biopsy in focal intrahepatic lesions: six years' experience

We report the results of 322 ultrasonically guided percutaneous fine-needle biopsies of focal intrahepatic lesions. The technique is original in several respects; it is an aspiration of both the lesion and normal-looking liver, and it includes both cytology and histology when the tiny cores are obtained. Cytology included Papanicolaou and Giemsa staining and other special staining when necessary. Sensitivity was 88.6% and specificity was 100% in the diagnosis of malignancy. Out of 141 metastases, 14 false negatives, 5 misclassifications, and 122 correct diagnoses were obtained. Out of 69 hepatomas the correct diagnosis of malignancy was made in 63 patients and of these the correct classification in 49. Complications occurred in six patients and marked hemorrhage in four. This technique is a simple, accurate, safe method for the diagnosis of focal intrahepatic lesions.