In 119 patients with pelvic urogenital tumours the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis was made by lymphography-guided fine needle biopsy. The results of this technique, performed without anaesthesia and devoid of morbidity, could be interpreted in 88 percent of the cases. In the search for micro- and macroscopically invaded lymph nodes fine needle biopsy had a sensitivity of 66 percent, a specificity of 100 percent, a positive predictive value of 100 percent and a negative predictive value of 92.3 percent. In cases with macroscopically invaded nodes its sensitivity was 82.3 percent.