title: A study to demonstrate the use of FNA cytology rather than biopsy in the diagnosis of neonatal biliary atresia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the use of fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology in neonatal biliary atresia (BA).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve female and nine male patients (age range, 3-7 months; mean age, 4.5 months) with a pre-operative diagnosis of BA, who were scheduled for Kasia portoenterostomy and selected for intraoperative FNA, were studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cholestasis, bile deposits, bile infarcts, hepatitic rosettes enclosing bile plugs, feathery degeneration of hepatocytes and inflammatory cells were seen in the cytological slides. Bile infarcts, rosette formation and inflammatory cells were mainly noticed in type 3 BA. Bile infarcts and hepatitic rosettes are surrogate findings for the diagnosis of the obstructive type of cholestasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the help of imaging studies, FNA in a multidisciplinary setting can be diagnostic of neonatal BA when cytological features suggest the obstructive nature of cholestasis, but this procedure cannot replace completely liver biopsy for this diagnosis.
authors: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Mokhtari
authors: P V
authors: PV
authors: Kumar
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Salimi
mesh_terms: D001656:Biliary Atresia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle / Q000379:methods; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D003581:Cytodiagnosis / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007249:Inflammation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male
keywords: FNA; cytology; fine needle aspiration; intraoperative diagnosis; liver; neonatal biliary atresia