Fine needle aspiration cytology of oral cavity and jaw bone lesions. A report of 102 cases.

Fine needle aspiration cytology of oral cavity and jaw bone lesions was performed on 102 patients. The cytologic diagnoses were compared with the results of histologic examination. Thirteen of the 15 histologically malignant lesions and 71 of the 87 histologically benign lesions were cytologically diagnosed accurately. In 12 (92%) of the malignant and 69 (97%) of the benign lesions, specific cytologic diagnoses were given that proved the same or very similar to the final histologic diagnoses. This study showed that the overall accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology in the oral cavity and jaw bones is high and is not significantly different from that obtained in other body regions.