Radiology, Vol 195, 815-819, Copyright © 1995 by Radiological Society of North America
Fine-needle aspiration biopsy versus fine-needle capillary (nonaspiration) biopsy: in vivo comparison
CA Savage, KD Hopper, CS Abendroth, JS Hartzel and TR TenHave
College of Medicine, Penn State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
PURPOSE: To evaluate, in vivo, the efficacy of fine-needle capillary
(nonaspiration) biopsy (FNCB) versus fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB)
when performed at the same site with a coaxial technique. MATERIALS AND
METHODS: In 91 patients, biopsy was performed at 140 sites in 93 lesions
mostly throughout the chest and abdomen with either FNCB or FNAB, or both
(98 sites). A coaxial technique with a 22-gauge needle was used. The
quality of the specimen was graded by a blinded pathologist, who also made
a pathologic diagnosis. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference
was noted in the graded criteria performance plus diagnostic yield between
the two techniques. When performed before FNAB, FNCB yielded a better
quality specimen of a particular site. However, there was no difference in
the graded quality of FNAB whether performed before or after FNCB.
Insufficient specimens were obtained at 30 (21.4%) of 140 sites with FNCB
versus only 18 (12.8%) with FNAB. CONCLUSION: FNCB is an alternative to
FNAB and provides a cellular diagnostic specimen from most lesions. When a
coaxial method is used and both techniques are employed, the diagnostic
accuracy of these techniques is 84%.
