H. Zainol et E. Sumithran, COMBINED CYTOLOGICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA IN ULTRASONICALLY GUIDED FINE-NEEDLE BIOPSY SPECIMENS, Histopathology, 22(6), 1993, pp. 581-586
This study evaluates the usefulness of a combined cytological and hist
ological approach to the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) w
hen applied to fine needle biopsy specimens obtained under ultrasonic
guidance. The material, aspirated from 51 focal liver lesions, was han
dled in such a way that there was sufficient material for both cytolog
ical and histological (cell block) assessment. Of the 29 cases of HCC
studied, a confident cytological diagnosis was made in 23 (79%). In th
e remaining six cases, the cytological features were considered to be
suspicious but not diagnostic of HCC. Examination of cell blocks in th
e six cases enabled a confident diagnosis of HCC to be made in all cas
es. This was due to the supplementary visual information provided by t
he histological features, particularly the pattern of arrangement of t
he tumour cells.