title: Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the mediastinum. A multi-institutional analysis.
abstract: The combined experience of four university medical centers with fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of the mediastinum is reviewed. This series includes 189 cases, with 100 males and 89 females, 6 months to 86 years of age. The majority (71%) of diagnoses were neoplastic with the remainder equally distributed between nondiagnostic/unsatisfactory and nonneoplastic lesions. Malignant lymphoma and thymoma were the most frequent primary malignancies. Metastatic tumors represented the majority (60%) of neoplasms identified by FNAB. In 16% of these cases, the primary tumor was not identified. The majority (67%) of metastases were from the lung and were predominantly small cell type (52%). Sixty-six ancillary tests were performed on 51 cases (27%). Histologic correlation was available in 78 of 189 (41%) cases, with a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 87% to 88% for the detection of neoplasm and 82% to 83% for distinguishing benign from malignant disease. The positive predictive value for the presence of neoplasm was 97% with three cytologic false positives identified. This series is the largest to date on the utility of FNAB for lesions of the mediastinum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, SUNY Health Science Center 13210, USA.
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Geisinger
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Frable
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008477:Mediastinal Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008482:Mediastinum / Q000473:pathology*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis