Objective: To investigate the role of multiple diagnostic methods in the head and neck tumor.
Methods: One hundred and ninety-six patients without definite pathological diagnosis referred from other hospitals were included in this retrospective study. All patients had a biopsy or fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the suspected region after detailed medical history enquiry, physical examination and imaging examination.
Results: All patients had ultrasound-guided FNA except 4 patients who had direct FNA. One hundred and seventy-one patients (87.2%) were confirmed to have tumor cells by pathological diagnosis, among them, 31 patients by biopsy of primary region alone, 106 by FNA, and 34 by both. The positive rate of FNA was 71.4% (140/196) for the whole group, 71.1% (123/173), 66.7% (10/15) and 87.5% (7/8) for retropharyngeal lymph node subgroup, parapharyngeal space subgroup and oropharynx subgroup.
Conclusion: The combined use of endoscope, MRI, and ultrasound-guided FNA is useful for the diagnosis of head and neck tumor.