COMBINED CYTOLOGICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA IN ULTRASONICALLY GUIDED FINE-NEEDLE BIOPSY SPECIMENS

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.