Ultrasonically guided staging splenic tissue core biopsy in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Ultrasonically guided tissue core biopsy of the spleen was undertaken in eight patients with previously untreated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the staging procedure. In all cases, the tissue core specimens that were biopsied were sufficient to diagnose the presence of involvement of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and two of the eight were found to have histologic involvement. There was no complication in this series. It was concluded that this is a safe and reliable technique for the staging of malignant lymphoma.