Ultrasonography guided fine needle aspiration biopsy of parotid gland masses.

OBJECTIVES The exact preoperative diagnosis of parotid gland masses requires highly specific and sensitive diagnostic techniques. The specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of ultrasonography guided fine needle aspiration biopsy of parotid gland masses were assessed. PATIENTS AND METHODS There were 46 female and 36 male patients. The mean age was 39 years (range 18 to 74 years). Ultrasonography guided fine needle aspiration biopsies were performed and cytologic diagnoses were compared with postoperative histopathologic findings of specimens. RESULTS In our series, 65 of the lesions (79%) were found to be benign and 17 (21%) were malignant. There were one false negative and one false positive results. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy rates were found to be 94.1%, 98.4% and 97.6% for parotid tumors, respectively. CONCLUSION Ultrasonography guided fine needle aspiration biopsy of parotid gland masses have been proven to be a highly specific, sensitive, and a safe preoperative diagnostic technique when performed by an experienced clinician and cytopathologist.