[Core needle biopsies for lymphoma diagnosis seriously affect diagnostics, treatment development and research]

Core needle biopsies for lymphoma diagnosis seriously affect diagnostics, treatment development and research Core needle biopsies (CNBs) are widely used in clinical diagnostic labs to aid in the diagnosis of malignant lymphomas and in latter years their use is increasing. CNBs provide a rapid method for obtaining tumour material and may be beneficial when the affected lymph nodes are located deep in the abdominal cavity or mediastinum and surgical excisional biopsies may be difficult to perform. However, according to the Swedish Haematopathology Quality and Standardization Committee, CNBs are insufficient for lymphoma diagnostic purposes and the guidelines state that material from surgical excisional biopsies are mandatory in order to obtain a robust histopathological evaluation of the lymph node architecture, cellular composition and growth pattern. Surgical excision biopsies also ensure that adequate material is available if additional molecular analyses should be required and also to facilitate future research.