Fine needle aspiration biopsy of neck lumps in a district hospital

This paper examines the results of 117 fine needle aspiration biopsies performed on head and neck lumps over the first 3 years of its use in a district general hospital. The cytological diagnosis has corresponded exactly with the histological diagnosis in 51% of cases and the concurrence rate has been 84%. Fifty-seven (49%) of the 117 masses proved to be malignant and 79% of these were correctly diagnosed by needle biopsy. A further 12% of the aspirations were highly suspicious of malignancy. There were no false positive aspirations (specificity 100%) and 4 false negative results (sensitivity 93%). No complications were encountered.