University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030.
Any diagnostic procedure requires a circumspect decision on its clinical utility. Otherwise, it risks being only an additional evaluation that is not cost-effective. In the case of fine-needle aspiration biopsy of lesions of salivary glands, there are unquestioned clinical indications; none, however, merit its inclusion as part of a systematic evaluation. Attention is also called to the possible negation of a histopathologic diagnosis because of the tissue effects of the fine-needle aspiration.