Evaluation of ultrasound guided aspiration biopsy of focal liver lesions

To evaluate the diagnostic value of Ultrasound Guided Percutaneous Fine Needle Biopsy (LTS-MAB) 552. US-FNABs were performed in patients with suspected neoplastic involvement of the liver. In 223 cases the results were compared with final diagnosis based on postoperative histology (54), operation detecting primary tumor according to the metastasis (97), autopsy (22) or clinical and radiological follow up methods (for benign lesions, 60). FNAB diagnosis had 95.8% sensitivity, 97% specificity and 96.1% overall accuracy. In characterizing malignant lesions FNAB was found to be 98.4% accurate for metastases, and 96.4% accurate for HCCs. There were no false positive cases with undoubtful malignancy FNAB diagnosis. No noteworthy complications were observed. US-FNAB is a highly reliable, safe, inexpensive diagnostic procedure. We advise US-FNAB as a routine, first level tool for the diagnosis of focal liver diseases.