Biopsia por aspiración con aguja delgada en el diagnóstico de lesiones de la región parotídea

Aim. Determine the usefulness of the fine needle aspiration biopsy in the parotideal area lesions. Methods. One hundred and thirty six fine needle aspiration biopsies of the parotideal area were performed between January of 1994 to August of 1999. Thirty nine were discarded as inadequate smears and 37 had no histological correlation. Results. Out of the 60 cases with histologic correlation, 29 were categorized as benign (6 inflammatory and 23 benign neoplasm) and 31 as malignant tumors. Six of this malignant tumors were incorrectly diagnosed as benign and two benign tumors as malignant ones. Sensitivity of the aspiration biopsy in this study was 81.8%, specificity 92.6%, positive predictive value 93.1% and negative predictive value 80.6%, accuracy of 86.6%. Conclusions. Fine needle aspiration biopsy is a reliable procedure in the diagnosis of the parotideal lesions, but by no mean a definite one to rule the treatment of a patient.