Percutaneous cytodiagnosis of abdominal masses by ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy.

A review was made of 168 ultrasound guided fine needle biopsies on 145 patients. Fifty-seven biopsies were from the pancreas, 40 biopsies from the liver, 28 from the kidney, 26 from the abdomen and 17 from the retroperitoneum. The total accuracy rate was 66 per cent varying from 50 per cent in abdominal lesions to 83 per cent in hepatic lesions. The differences of the results are discussed as are the indications and the role of ultrasound guided fine needle puncture compared with other modalities.