Utility of punch biopsy for lesions that are hard to aspirate by conventional fine-needle aspiration
✍ Scribed by Shin, Hyung Ju C. ;Sneige, Nour ;Staerkel, Gregg A.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 467 KB
- Volume
- 87
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0008-543X
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✦ Synopsis
BACKGROUND.
Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is a fast, reliable, and cost-efficient technique for diagnosing palpable masses. However, when the lesion is small, dermal in location, shallow in depth, or fibrotic, the cellular yield by FNA may be limited and thus hinder an accurate diagnosis. The authors examined the value of punch biopsy (PB) in diagnosing such hard-to-aspirate lesions.
METHODS.
The authors reviewed 49 PB specimens from 47 patients who presented in their FNA clinic from June 1994 to July 1997.
RESULTS.
The lesions were typically described as ill-defined erythematous skin lesions or as papules or small, firm, subcutaneous nodules (average size, 0.7 cm).
Patients' previous history included breast carcinoma (in 36 cases), nonmammary carcinoma (in 3 cases), melanoma (in 2 cases), squamous carcinoma of the skin (in 2 cases), cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (in 2 cases), small lymphocytic lymphoma (in CANCER CYTOPATHOLOGY