Fine needle aspiration cytologic diagnosis of gastrointestinal tract lesions. A study of 78 cases.

Seventy-eight cases of gastrointestinal tract lesions were subjected to fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology over a period of seven years. The age of the patients ranged from 1 to 85 years, and the male:female ratio was 47:31. Specific clinical diagnoses, such as carcinoma, lymphoma and tuberculosis, were offered in 27 cases only. The FNA was ultrasound guided in 52 cases; in 26 cases no imaging aid was available. Ultrasonography revealed that the mass lesions were located in the stomach (4 cases), in various parts of the intestine (46), in bowel/retroperitoneum (1) and in the paraaortic lymph nodes (1). The cytodiagnoses were adenocarcinoma (18 cases), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (9), leiomyosarcoma (2), suspicious for malignancy (1), tuberculosis (23), nontuberculous infections (7) and inadequate (18). There was a significant difference (P < .05) in the inadequacy rate between ultrasound-guided FNA (15.4%) and nonguided FNA (38.5%).