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Fine needle cytology of palpable head and neck lesions: a comparison of sampling methods with and without suction
Author(s) -
Allen S. M.,
Boon A. P.,
Brownridge D. M.,
Chadwick C. H.,
Buckley J. G.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1365-2303
pISSN - 0956-5507
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2303.1999.00156.x
Subject(s) - medicine , suction , throat , head and neck , sampling (signal processing) , significant difference , cytology , nose , lymph node , surgery , radiology , nuclear medicine , pathology , mechanical engineering , filter (signal processing) , computer science , engineering , computer vision
Fine needle cytology of palpable head and neck lesions: a comparison of sampling methods with and without suction Patients attending the ear, nose and throat (ENT) department at St James's University Hospital, Leeds, UK, for evaluation of palpable head and neck lesions have a fine needle cytology (FNC) specimen taken and receive the result at the same out‐patient visit. This study was designed to discover if there is a significant difference in the efficiency of the methods with and without suction. The method was chosen randomly on each occasion and the adequacy or otherwise of the specimen was determined taking into account the site and nature of the lesion and the total cellularity of the sample. The level of blood contamination was also compared by each method. When benign and malignant lesions from all sites were analysed together the method with suction produced a significantly higher number of adequate samples than the method without suction. The exception was in the case of samples from lymph node lesions measuring < 1 cm, where adequate specimens were only obtained without suction. The non‐suction technique was particularly poor at sampling salivary gland lesions in the 1–1.5 cm category. There was no significant difference in the level of blood contamination between the two methods at any site. These results are at variance with most other similar studies and possible reasons for this are discussed.