title: Small (< or = 3 cm) hepatic lesions. Results of sonographically guided fine-needle biopsy in 385 patients.
abstract: Three hundred ninety-five consecutive patients with sonographically detected hepatic lesions < or = 3 cm in diameter were submitted to ultrasonically guided fine-needle biopsy: 24 (6.1%) were < or = 1 cm in diameter; 142 (36%) were between 1.1 and 2 cm, and 229 (57.9%) were between 2.1 and 3 cm in diameter. In the 385 controlled cases, we obtained a cytohistological diagnosis of malignancy in 243 (63.1%): 135 hepatocellular carcinomas, 97 metastases, and 11 hepatic lymphomas. There were 104 true negatives (27%) and 38 false negatives (9.9%). The sensitivity of ultrasonically guided fine needle biopsy in the total series was 86.5%, the specificity 100%, with an overall accuracy of 90.1%. The overall accuracy was higher for lesions between 2.1 and 3 cm in diameter (90%) and was lower for lesions located in the sixth segment (84.6%). The correct diagnosis was obtained in the 83.3% (135/162) of small hepatocellular carcinomas versus 89.8% (97/108) in cases of small metastatic lesions.
authors.affiliation: I Divisione di Medicina, Servizio di Gastroenterologia, Ospedale di Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fornari
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Filice
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Rapaccini
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Caturelli
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cavanna
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Civardi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Stasi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Buscarini
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Buscarini
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional