Value of Liver and Spleen Aspiration Biopsy in Malignant Diseases when these Organs Show no Signs of Involvement in Sonography

To determine whether an aspiration biopsy of liver and/or spleen is likely to reveal a clinically silent malignant infiltration, fine-needle aspiration biopsies were carried out in 180 patients with a diagnosed malignancy in whom neither the liver nor the spleen gave signs of involvement in sonography. Few, if any, findings were positive in patients with cancer or Hodgkin's disease. In non-Hodgkin lymphoma, about 25% of the biopsies were positive for malignancy or aroused suspicion of malignancy. We conclude that fine-needle aspiration biopsies of the liver and spleen may be of value in the clinical follow-up of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.