Aspiration biopsy of bone is a simple and relatively safe diagnostic
tool that had a diagnostic accuracy of 72 per cent in thirty-one patients
who had a primary bone tumor that was suspected of being malignant and of
83 per cent in twelve patients who had a suspected giant-cell tumor.
However, twenty-six primary lesions of bone that were thought likely to be
benign were not as easily and definitively diagnosed (an accuracy rate of
23 per cent), and for these lesions, multiple needle-aspiration samples or
open biopsy provides greater diagnostic accuracy.