AN EXPERIENCE WITH ULTRASONICALLY GUIDED LIVER ASPIRATES FROM SOUTH-INDIA

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) was performed on 102 hepatic lesions unde r ultrasound control. Eighty-eight lesions were solid and 14 were cyst ic. Ninety aspirates provided adequate material for cytodiagnosis. Asp irates from the solid lesions were assessed for the presence or absenc e of 20 cytological features. It was found that on a univariate statis tical analysis, 11 of the features were significantly associated with hepatocellular carcinomas. Five of these 11 were considered diagnostic of the lesion on a step-wise multiple linear regression analysis. Two other features (not included among the 11) were found to be significa ntly associated with metastatic neoplasms. Cystic lesions were diagnos ed as being either abscesses, hydatid cysts or congenital cysts. The p hysical appearance of the cyst fluid proved to be of diagnostic value in many cases.