value of fine needle aspiration in diagnosing abdominal and retroperitoneal masses of children

the aim of this study was to evaluate the role of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of abdominal and retroperitoneal masses in children on this study. in 53 cases of childhood abdominal and retroperitoneal masses within a 4 year period (1998- 2001) preoperative fine needle aspiration was done under the guide of ct scan. 2 pathologists reviewed fine needle aspiration smears. in all of the cases the gold standard for diagnosis was the tissue specimen, which showed 37 malignant, 2 benign neoplastic and 12 nonneoplastic diseases. this study showed that the sensitivity and specificity of fme needle aspiration cytology for the diagnosis of malignancy and benignity (positive or negative for malignancy) is 97.2% and 81.2% respectively. it was 100% accurate for the diagnosis of cell type in neuroblastoma-ganglioneuroblastoma, hepatoblastoma and wilm's tumor, 77% accurate for lymphoma and 57% for germ cell tumors. there was no complication in any of the cases after fine needle aspiration. so fine needle aspiration is a reliable and sensitive method for the preoperative diagnosis of malignant pediatric abdominal and retroperitoneal masses and we recommend doing fna cytology as a routine method for the diagnosis of such cases.