Excision biopsy of the spleen by ultrasonic guidance.
Excision biopsy of the spleen was performed in 32 patients, using a recently invented instrument, which consists of a spring-trigger system for firing the two parts of a Tru-Cut needle. The biopsies were carried out under the guidance of an ultrasonic scanner. This technique yields sufficient material of high quality for a proper evaluation both of individual cells and the internal structure of the spleen. Eight patients had parenchymal abnormalities found by ultrasonic scanning: five had multiple abnormalities whereas three had a single abnormal area. Seven of these eight patients had a pathological spleen biopsy, consisting of Hodgkin's disease (four patients), "high-grade" malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (two patients) or tuberculosis (one patient). In the other 24 patients with a normal ultrasonic picture of the splenic parenchyma five biopsies were pathological (3 cases of hairy-cell leukaemia, 1 of Gaucher's disease and 1 of Hodgkin's disease). Side-effects were: slight to moderate pain (16/32 patients) and bleeding requiring transfusion (4/32 patients). In one of these patients splenectomy was performed because of the bleeding. Two of the patients with bleeding complications suffered from hairy-cell leukaemia. It is concluded from this study that excision biopsy of the spleen is a diagnostic method which in some patients can replace splenectomy. The method seems to be valuable especially in patients with parenchymal abnormalities shown by ultrasonic scanning.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013154:Spleen / Q000473:pathology*; D014463:Ultrasonography