The role of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of primary skin tumors.

This study presents the results of 544 fine needle aspirations of primary skin tumors, (275 basal cell carcinomas, 186 squamous cell carcinomas, 41 melanomas, 5 Kaposi sarcomas, 1 sebaceous epithelioma, 1 Merkel tumor, 1 glomangiosarcoma and 34 benign tumors). The purpose of the study was to investigate the accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology for the diagnosis of skin tumors and to assess its clinical value. 21-27 Gauge needles used and the specimens were stained by MGG and Pap methods. Immunoperoxidase stains were applied in cases with a problem of differential diagnosis. The histological examination of 382 of the cases revealed one false positive cytological result. Persuaded by our results we believe that fine needle aspiration can give highly reliable information concerning the histological type of primary skin tumors with an equivocal clinical examination. Furthermore, by detecting relapses of previously treated lesions, this method is particularly useful in the management of a great number of patients.