BMJ  2004;329:290 (31 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7460.290-a

Letter

Fine needle aspiration of hepatic colorectal metastases

BMJ enters arena of tabloid journalism

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—That the BMJ decided to publish the lesson of the week by Metcalfe et al with an eye catching title smacking of tabloid journalism is most surprising.1 To dismiss outright as useless and dangerous the procedure of fine needle aspiration of suspected colorectal metastases will raise serious doubts in the minds of many clinicians of the safety of this procedure, not only in colorectal metastases but in any liver metastases. It certainly has medicolegal implications for people who perform fine needle aspiration of any malignant lesion.

There have been recent examples of chaos and confusion caused in the minds of the public and the medical profession resulting from publications based on inadequate, inaccurate, or biased data. Many in this country have performed several hundreds of fine needle aspirations and percutaneous biopsies without such a high rate of tumour seeding, allowing for the fact that we may not be . . . [Full text of this article]

Anton E Joseph, consultant radiologist

Mayday University Hospital, Croydon, Surrey CR7 7YE aejoseph@hotmail.com


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