The diagnostic value of liver aspiration puncture with echographic control

OBJECTIVE: To correlate liver fine needle aspiration (FNA) diagnosis with histopathological diagnosis and clinical evolution. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of liver FNA validity, evaluating sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of the method in correlation with the clinical evolution and biopsy results. RESULTS: Malignancy was diagnosed in 46 cases (20 hepatocarcinomas and 26 liver metastases), and benign lesions in 24 patients. Ten additional cases were excluded on the grounds of insufficient material or the impossibility of establishing clinico-histological correlation. There were 6 false-negatives and one false-positive. The overall accuracy of the method was 90% with a sensitivity of 88.2% and specificity of 94%. The positive and negative predictive values of the method were 97.8 and 75%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Liver FNA is efficient in cases of suspected liver tumoration. The technique proved particularly useful in the present series in diagnosing liver metastases, often allowing the establishing of tumor origin.