Correlation of fine needle aspiration cytology and histopathology in palpable breast lesions in 100 patients of KVG Medical College & Hospital, Sullia, Karnataka

Breast carcinoma is one of the leading causes of malignancy in females. Diagnosis of breast carcinoma is often made by fine needle aspiration biopsy. The main purpose of fine needle biopsy of breast lumps is to confirm cancer preoperatively and to avoid unnecessary surgery in specific benign conditions. Aims & Objectives 1. To diagnose any palpable breast lump in females by cytology. 2. To study the accuracy of FNAC (fine needle aspiration cytology) in diagnosing various breast lumps in females. 3. To confirm cytological diagnosis by doing histopathologic study in cases possible and obtain cytohistopathological correlation. Materials & Methods:This study was conducted on all the patients referred to the Department of Pathology for FNAC and histopathological examination of palpable breast lumps in K.V.G Medical College and Hospital, Sullia ‘between’ September 2013 to October 2014. A FNAC was performed and cytological findings were recorded. After this, the patients were subjected to open/excision biopsy. Later diagnostic accuracy of cytology reporting was compared with that of histopathological study. Results: We have accuracy of 100% for benign lesions and 95.45% for malignant lesions. The sensitivity for FNAC in diagnosing the palpable breast lump is 95.45%, specificity is 100%, positive predictive value is 100%, negative predictive value is 97.06% and diagnostic accuracy is 98.18%. Conclusion: Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology is a technique utilized in the diagnosis of palpable breast masses owing to its distinct advantages of being sensitive and specific, expedient, economical and safe.