Ultrasonically guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of gastrointestinal mass lesions.

Ultrasonically guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy was performed in 78 patients with ultrasonically demonstrable typical gastrointestinal mass lesions. Of these patients, 61 later proved to have malignant lesions (18 in the stomach, three in the small intestine, and 40 in the colon or rectum), and 17 had benign lesions. In 50 of 61 cases of malignant lesions, the cytologic diagnosis was positive for cancer. There were no false positives. It is concluded that when a structure with the ultrasonic characteristics of a gastrointestinal mass lesion is disclosed, fine-needle aspiration biopsy can safely and conveniently differentiate between malignant and benign lesions in most cases. The ultrasonically guided biopsy is suggested as an alternative to endoscopically guided biopsy.