Comparison of ultrasonographically guided fine‐needle aspiration and core needle biopsy in the diagnosis of parotid masses

Background. To retrospectively compare the accuracies of ultrasound‐guided fine‐needle aspiration (USFNA) and ultrasound‐guided core needle biopsy (USCNB) in the diagnosis of parotid masses. Methods. A total of 171 patients (aged 17–86 years, mean 54 years) with parotid masses (35 malignant and 136 benign lesions) underwent either USFNA (n = 107) or USCNB (n = 64). The diagnostic accuracies for differentiating benign from malignant lesions of both examinations were compared. Surgical histopathology (n = 104) and clinical diagnosis (n = 67) were used to establish the final diagnoses. Results. USCNB had a significantly higher sensitivity (94.1%) than USFNA (55.6%) ( p < 0.05) in differentiating benign lesions from malignant conditions. The specificity and overall accuracy of USCNB were higher than those of USFNA (100% and 98.4% versus 93.3% and 86.9%, respectively). USCNB provided more specific diagnosis than USFNA (100% versus 93.3%, p < 0.05). All six patients with lymphomas who underwent USCNB were accurately diagnosed, whereas all four patients with lymphomas who underwent USFNA were not. Conclusions. USCNB should be preferred to USFNA when a definite diagnosis of a parotid solid mass is needed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2011;