FINE-NEEDLE ASPIRATION BIOPSY OF SALIVARY-GLAND, 1985-1995

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utility of fine needle aspiration biopsy (F NAB) in the study of salivary gland pathologies and to assess ifs capa city to provide an accurate diagnosis and discriminate between cases r equiring surgery or not.STUDY DESIGN: From January 1985 through Decemb er 1995, FNABs were carried out on 153 patients with salivary gland tu mors. In 4 of the 153 cases the aspiration was inadequate. Of the rema ining 149 FNAB diagnoses, 63 were checked histologically and 86 clinic ally. RESULTS: Regarding the capacity to discriminate between neoplast ic (malignant and benign) and nonneoplastic lesions, FNAB correctly di agnosed 144 lesions (135 true negative [TN] and 9 true positive [TP]) and failed in 5 cases (false negative [FN]). Regarding the capacity to discriminate between tumors requiring surgery or not, the FNAB diagno ses were true in 146 cases (83 TP, 63 TN) and false in 3 (2 FN, 1 fals e positive). The values for sensitivity, specificity, negative predict ive value and total diagnostic accuracy were 97.64%, 98.43%, 96.92% an d 97.98%, respectively. CONCLUSION: FNAB has an impact on the treatmen t of salivary gland masses. The data on its ability to distinguish bet ween lesions requiring surgery or not are encouraging.