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.