Surgeon-performed ultrasound with fine-needle aspiration biopsy for the diagnosis of parotid gland tumors.

Background: Ultrasound (US) with or without fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) are readily available and can offer in office and rapid diagnosis of parotid lumps.

Methods: We analyzed 398 of patients who underwent blind FNAC or US with FNAC performed by an operating head and neck surgeon. Specificity, sensitivity, as well as accuracy were calculated for US alone, FNAC alone, and US-FNAC combined.

Results: Nondiagnostic US-guided FNAC rate was 3.1% and 7.2% for blind FNAC. With those cases removed, final accuracy for US alone in diagnosis of malignancy, pleomorphic adenoma (PA), and Warthin tumor (WT) were 90.8%, 81%, and 77.4% respectively. For US-FNAC accuracy for malignancy, PA, and WT were 92.1%, 94 0.8%, and 95.4% respectively.

Conclusion: US with FNAC is cost-effective and rapid diagnostic tool and may help surgeon to deliver more accurate informed consent to a patient.