Diagnostic value of core needle biopsy and fine-needle aspiration in salivary gland lesions

Background Core needle biopsy (CNB) has gained acceptance as a minimally invasive procedure in the head and neck. Nevertheless, many concerns arise regarding the value and safety of this method in the assessment of salivary gland lesions. Methods This prospective study comprises 111 patients with a salivary gland lesion. The results of ultrasound-guided CNB were compared with those of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in the 103 histologically verified cases. Results CNB achieved a higher accuracy than FNA in identifying true neoplasms (98% vs 91%) and detecting malignancy (99% vs 87%), and was also superior to FNA providing a specific diagnosis (93% vs 74%). In both methods, no complications, such as bleeding, infection, nerve injury, or tumor-cell seeding, occurred. Conclusion CNB is a simple, safe, and highly accurate procedure, which should be considered as an additional diagnostic tool in the assessment of salivary gland lesions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2015