[Ultrasound-guided thin-needle biopsy in focal liver diseases. II. Benign focal liver diseases].

Sixty patients with benign focal liver disease underwent sonography-guided percutaneous fine needle biopsy for definitive diagnosis. The benignancy of all lesions was determined accurately by cytohistologic evaluation. All 44 liquid space-occupying lesions (30 hepatic cysts, 9 abscesses, 3 hematomas, 2 serous residual cavities after surgery) could be classified by cytological, biochemical and bacterial examination. The diagnosis of hepatic hemangiomas by fine needle puncture is problematic, because the cytological identification of benign endothelial cells is difficult. The histological examination of tissue cylinders of 4 small echogenic lesions revealed focal fatty change of the liver. Tissue fragments of focal nodular hyperplasias and liver cell adenomas showed histologically typical liver cells arranged in trabecular structure. The additional identification of bile ducts supplies proof of focal nodular hyperplasia and excludes liver cell adenoma. Percutaneous puncture of liver abscesses and cysts afforded effective therapeutic decompression. Eight out of 9 liver abscesses were cured by evacuating fine needle puncture. More than 50% of the liver cysts showed long-term growth shrinkage subsequent to puncture. The histological confirmation of benign and malignant liver tumors by sonographyguided fine needle biopsy is considered a decisive step forward in the diagnostic possibilities of update imaging methods.