Results of 70 fine-needle aspiration biopsies (FNAB) were evaluated retrospectively in 61 pediatric patients. Over a period of 9 months all mass lesions suspected being malignant were aspirated. Twelve of the 70 aspirations were performed in children having known tumours, in order to exclude recurrence or metastasis. The others were carried out to obtain a diagnosis. Satisfactory specimens were obtained from 58 (83%). There were 21 benign diagnoses, 36 malignant diagnoses, and 1 with suspected malignancy. Correlation of histologic and cytologic diagnoses was possible in 45 cases. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 95% and 80%, respectively. We have found FNAB more accurate in the diagnosis of malignancies than in benign lesions. The results suggest that this is a useful technique for obtaining a first diagnosis of malignancy, as well as for excluding recurrence or metastatic disease.

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A 2 year old boy with humero-spinal dysostosis is described. This is the third case of this disease reported in the literature. Humero-spinal dysostosis is characterised radiologically by distal humeral bifurcation, elbow subluxation and coronal cleft vertebrae. Congenital, progressive heart disease, possibly with fatal outcome, is probably part of the syndrome.

A group of syndromes is presented whose common characteristic is the absence of pubic ossification at birth with very slow posterior mineralization. This is a radiological finding of interest as it has not been described in other entities. In all the cases shown, moreover, a variable degree of delay in bone age is observed. The increase of space between the pubic bones described in these syndromes is fictious, as it really signifies the existence of non-ossified cartilage. Therefore, they must be differentiated from those which deal with real widening of the symphysis of pubis.

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