Efficacy of on-site specimen adequacy evaluation of image-guided fine and core needle biopsies.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the value of on-site specimen adequacy evaluations.


METHODS
We reviewed reports of 144 image-guided fine and/or core needle biopsies from kidney, liver, lung, pancreas and retroperitoneum. One hundred nine (76%) had on-site evaluations performed, and 35 (24%) specimens did not receive any evaluation at the time of the procedure. Followup information up to 30 months was obtained on 131 (91%) to determine the nature of the lesion.


RESULTS
For procedures involving lung, radiologists requested on-site evaluations for 93% of their procedures, while pulmonologists did not request on-site evaluations during the study period but obtained both fine needle aspirates and cores in 76% of their procedures. Radiologists were much more likely to obtain a definitive positive diagnosis for lesions that were confirmed to be malignant than pulmonologists were (20/23 [87%] vs. 5/11 [45%], p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
On-site evaluations improved the percentage of definitive "positive" diagnoses of the malignant lesions on cytology from 33% (5/15) to 74% (53/72) (p = 0.003). On-site evaluation did not have any effect on the diagnostic yield of the lesions that were determined to be benign on followup (p = 0.54).
Azabdaftari
Gissou
G
Departnent of Pathology, University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center, Aurora, Colorado, USA. gissou.azabdaftari@roswellpark.org
Goldberg
S Nahum
SN
Wang
Helen H
HH
D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D010179:Pancreas / Q000473:pathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity