Fine-needle aspiration cytopathology in diagnosis and classification of malignant lymphoma: Accurate and reliable?

• Published in: Diagnostic cytopathology 2000-02, Vol.22 (2), p.120-125
• Main Author: Wakely Jr, Paul E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Biopsy, Needle; cytopathology; Evaluation Studies as Topic; fine-needle aspiration biopsy; Hematology; Hodgkin Disease - diagnosis; Hodgkin lymphoma; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); lymph node; Lymph Nodes - pathology; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - classification; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - pathology; malignant lymphoma; Medical sciences; Non-Hodgkin lymphoma; Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity
• ISSN: 8755-1039; 1097-0339
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0339(200002)22:2<120::AID-DC14>3.0.CO;2-8

Diagnosis of malignant lymphoma by fine‐needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) remains a topic of skepticism and controversy. Because of the limitations of pure morphology, subclassfication of non‐Hodgkin malignant lymphoma (NHML) by FNAB often requires ancillary studies which impose a challenge not typically required of other FNAB diagnoses. Despite the dubiousness expressed by many, the evidence shows that a large percentage of NHML cases can be recognized and correctly classified using FNAB. Diagnostic accuracy is dependent on several factors including the type of NHML. The emergent WHO classification of lymphomas is one that appears to more readily accommodate the cytologic methods for NHML diagnosis. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2000;22:120–125. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.