Salivary gland fine needle aspiration: a focus on diagnostic challenges and tips for achieving an accurate diagnosis

Carla Saoud, Hansen Lam, Sandra I. Sanchez, Zahra Maleki

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a widely used and well-accepted method for preoperative evaluation of salivary gland lesions. It is a minimally invasive and cost-effective method with high sensitivity and specificity. However, salivary gland FNA presents many challenges due to the increasing number of entities, the heterogeneity of salivary gland lesions and the significant cytomorphologic overlap between many benign and malignant salivary gland neoplasms. Being aware of certain pitfalls and specific problems during the evaluation of salivary gland FNA helps one in avoiding these not-uncommon diagnostic challenges. The major conditions associated with diagnostic pitfalls are 1) matrix-containing lesions; (2) mucinous cysts; (3) Lymphocyte-rich lesions; (4) Basaloid lesions; (5) Oncocytic lesions, and (6) Squamous cells containing lesions. We herein present the major diagnostic pitfalls in salivary gland cytopathology, provide key features for avoiding them and offer helpful advice in achieving accurate diagnoses.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)357-369
Number of pages13
JournalDiagnostic Histopathology
Volume29
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2023

Keywords

  • Basaloid
  • cytology
  • diagnostic pitfalls
  • fine needle aspiration
  • lymphocytes-rich
  • matrix
  • mucinous cysts
  • oncocytes
  • salivary gland
  • squamous cells
  • the milan system for reporting salivary gland cytology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine
  • Histology

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