Fine-needle aspiration cytology versus core-needle biopsy for the diagnosis of extracranial head and neck schwannoma.

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the feasibility of diagnosing head and neck schwannomas using core-needle biopsy (CNB), and to compare this technique to fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). We designed a prospective case series in which 52 FNAC and 29 CNB samples from 48 patients with head and neck schwannoma were analyzed. Patient demographics, pathological results, and complications were also evaluated. Of the 81 total specimens, 24/52 (46.2%) of the FNAC and 0/29 (0.0%) of the CNB samples were unsatisfactory (P < .001). Specific diagnoses of schwannoma, including "suspicious schwannoma" and "consistent with schwannoma," were obtained from 10/52 (19.2%) of the FNAC samples and 28/29 (96.6%) of the CNB samples (P < .001). Major complications such as hematoma or permanent nerve injury did not occur in patients who underwent either method. CNB can diagnose schwannomas with a higher accuracy than FNAC without increasing the rate of complications.