Fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of bone tumours.

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology was performed on 62 primary and 22 metastatic bone tumours. Histological correlation was available in all 62 primary bone tumours, which included 7 benign and 53 malignant tumours. The most common of the malignant tumours were Ewing's sarcoma, followed by giant cell tumour, osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma. The benign tumours included 4 enchondromas, 1 chondromyxoid fibroma and 2 osteochondromas. The overall cytodiagnostic accuracy in primary malignant bone tumours was 86.9%, the specificity was 100% and cytological categorization of tumours was possible in the majority of cases. This eliminated the need for bioptic confirmation. Our results indicate that FNA cytology is a valuable diagnostic tool in bone tumours.