Hamaker R A, Moriarty A T, Hamaker R C
Department of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis, USA.
Laryngoscope. 1995 Dec;105(12 Pt 1):1311-4. doi: 10.1288/00005537-199512000-00009.
Fine-needle aspiration and fine-needle capillary biopsy techniques were compared, and the number of samples necessary to assure a diagnostic specimen was determined. In this study, each mass served as its own control, since both aspiration and capillary fine-needle biopsy were performed randomly on each mass. The study found the number of "superior" slides to be evenly distributed between the two biopsy techniques, but a different preference, based on tumor type, was noted for one or the other technique. The "best" slides were obtained from one of the first four samples 92% of the time. The authors concluded that both fine-needle aspiration and capillary biopsy should be used and that three to four samples should be obtained to increase the likelihood of a diagnostic biopsy.
