Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of major salivary gland masses and adjacent lymph nodes.

Ultrasound has an established role in the detection of masses in the major salivary glands and potentially malignant adjacent lymph nodes. Because there is overlap in their sonographic features, tissue diagnosis plays an important role in management. This review assesses ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy as a diagnostic tool in the characterization of these lesions.

US-guided fine-needle aspiration of major salivary gland masses and adjacent lymph nodes: accuracy and impact on clinical decision making.

Purpose: To determine whether ultrasonography (US)-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is an effective technique for diagnosing masses in the salivary gland and adjacent lymph nodes.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board waived the requirement to obtain informed consent and approved this HIPAA-compliant retrospective study. Radiology records of 50 patients (28 female patients aged 25-85 years [median age, 58 years], 22 male patients aged 11-82 years [median age, 62 years]) who underwent 52 consecutive US-guided FNA procedures from 2004 to 2009 were reviewed.