Ultrasonically guided fine-needle biopsy: a new useful technique in pathological staging of malignant lymphoma.

Ultrasonically guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of abdominal focal lesions was performed on 15 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, in 14 cases for pathological staging, in 1 case for differential diagnosis between lymphoma recurrence and other malignancy. The biopsy was performed using a transperitoneal approach, guided by a dynamic scanner. A correct diagnosis was obtained in punctures performed on 14 patients (93%); 12 patients had true positive results and 2 had true negative results. One patient had a false negative result; no false positive diagnoses were found. There were no complications related to the biopsies.