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Randomized Comparison of Power Doppler Ultrasound-Directed Excisional Biopsy With Standard Excisional Biopsy for the Characterization of Lymphadenopathies in Patients With Suspected Lymphoma

From the Departments of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Intestinal Surgery, Histopathology, and Laboratory Medicine, CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate, Federico II University Medical School, Naples, Italy

Address reprint requests to Bruno Rotoli, MD, Divisione di Ematologia, II Policlinico, Via S Pansini 5, 80131, Naples, Italy; e-mail: rotoli{at}unina.it

PURPOSE: The sensitivity of lymph node excisional biopsy requires validation. Power Doppler ultrasound (US) helps predict the malignant status of lymphadenopathies. We used power Doppler US to select for biopsy the lymph node most suspected of malignancy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred fifty-two patients having lymphadenopathies with clinical suspicion of lymphoma were divided into two well-matched groups and randomly assigned to undergo either standard or power Doppler US-directed lymph node excisional biopsy.

RESULTS: Histology showed a malignancy in 64% of patients in the standard group (lymphoma, 49 patients; carcinoma, two patients) and in 87% of patients in the US-assisted group (lymphoma, 62 patients; carcinoma, one patient). There were significantly fewer biopsy-related complications in the assisted group than in the standard group. During the follow-up of the patients with lymph nodes reported as being reactive, 14 of 29 patients in the standard group were rebiopsied and were found to have lymphoma (13 patients) or carcinoma at the subsequent lymph node histology, whereas none of the patients in the assisted group (nine patients) required a second biopsy. Thus, biopsy provided false-negative results for malignancy in 21% of patients affected by lymphoma in the standard group and never in the assisted group (P < .01).

CONCLUSION: Power Doppler US is an accurate tool for screening lymphadenopathies to be removed by excisional biopsy in patients with suspected lymphoma.

Supported by Associazione Italiana contro le Leucemie (Salerno, Italy), INTAS, Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (Milano, Italy), Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerca PF Biotecnologie (Roma, Italy), Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica-COFIN (Roma, Italy), and Regione Campania, Italy.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.