EUS-FNA combined with flow cytometry in diagnosis of deep-seated lymphoma

Objective To evaluate the performance of EUS-FNA combined with flow cytometry （FCM） in diagnosis of mediastinal or retroperitoneal lymphoma. Methods This study was a retrospective analysis of a collection of data over one year period. Since 2011,24 patients with lesions suspicious for lym- phoma detected by uhrasonography, CT or MRI underwent EUS-FNA and FCM. Results Of the 24 patients, 8 were confirmed as lymphoma including 7 cases of non-Hodgkin＇s lymphoma and 1 case of Hodgkin＇s lymphoma, 14 patients were diagnosed as nonlymphoma lesions and the 2 other patients got indeterminate diagnosis because of insufficient material for FCM. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value （PPV）, negative predictive value （NPV）, and accuracy of EUS-FNA combined with FCM for diagnosing lymphoma were 87.5%, 100. 0%, 100. 0% , 93.3%, and 95.5%, respectively. The sensitivity, speci- ficity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of EUS-FNA only for diagnosing lymphoma were 25.0%, 85.7%, 50. 0% , 66. 7% , and 63.6% , respectively. There was significant difference between these two methods. Conclusion EUS-FNA combined with FCM is a highly sensitive, specific and accurate method for the diagnosis of B-cell non-Hodgkin＇s lymphoma. Key words: Lymphoma;  Endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy;  Flow cytometry;  Pathology