sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy of neck masses

ABSTRACT

Neck masses are common presentations that often require tissue sampling to guide therapy. While open biopsy is invasive, fine needle aspiration cytology includes a high rate of nondiagnostic samples. We performed a retrospective analysis on 166 ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsies form the necks of 68 patients. The target tissue was correctly sampled in 64 patients, and on revision biopsy it reached to 66 patients [97%]. We experienced 97% success in obtaining high quality histopathologic specimens [66 out of 68 cases]. In these 66 patients the sensitivity and specificity in differentiating benign from malignant lesions was 97.6%, and 100% respectively. We conclude that ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy is a safe and reliable technique in the diagnosis of neck masses with high diagnostic yield and high tissue quality for histopathology that represents a sufficient alternative to open biopsy, even in diagnosis of lymphoma