Accuracy and cost-effectiveness of fine needle aspiration biopsy.

Two hundred eighty-six fine needle aspiration biopsies were reviewed. The sensitivity for the diagnosis of malignancy was 90 percent for lymph node specimens, 93 percent for skin and soft tissue masses, and 74 percent for breast cancer. The overall accuracy of the technique was 82 percent for breast lesions, and 90 to 92 percent for soft tissue and lymph node lesions. Traditional open biopsy in an outpatient setting for these tumors is twice as costly as fine needle aspiration biopsy. Further refinement in the use of the cytocentrifuge and immunohistochemical techniques will result in fewer inadequate fine needle aspiration specimens and an increase in the diagnostic information available with this technique. Fine needle aspiration is recommended as the first biopsy technique of choice for localized solid tumors.