Cytodiagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma and neuroendocrine tumor of the lung by transthoracic fine-needle aspiration

To evaluate our experience with the cytodiagnosis of primary lung cancers b y transthoracic fine-needle aspiration (TFNA), 106 bronchogenic carcinomas (BC) and 6 neuroendocrine tumors of the lung (NTL) with adequate needle asp irates were reviewed. The cytodiagnostic accuracy rates of BCs were 75.5% 7 2%, 100%, 53%, and 50% for bronchogenic adenocarcinomas, squamous-cell carc inomas, small-cell carcinomas, large-cell carcinomas, and mired carcinomas, respectively. Of the 6 NTLs, 4 typical carcinoid armors (CT) were correctl y diagnosed, 1 atypical CT was wrongly identified as small-cell carcinoma, and 1 large-cell NTL was mistaken for an adenocarcinoma. (C) 2000 Wiley-Lis s, Inc.