title: Fine-needle aspiration in the diagnosis of head and neck growths: the pitfalls of false-positive diagnosis.
abstract: The results of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNA) performed on 235 patients with head and neck growths were analyzed. The accuracy rate was 83%. The FNA was nondiagnostic in 9%, false negative in 7% and false positive in 1% of the cases. These results are similar to those in other centers. Due to false-negative diagnoses, FNA rarely allows the making of a major clinical decision. False-positive diagnoses oblige the clinician to perform several investigations to assess the diagnosis of nonmalignancy and to reassure the patient. Thus, in our opinion, FNA is helpful for the diagnosis of head and neck growths in some rare situations only.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Cantonal University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Guyot
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Auberson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Obradovic
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lehmann
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged