ROLE OF FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION CYTOLOGY (FNAC) IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF SKIN AND SUBCUTANEOUS LESIONS: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS

BACKGROUNDCytopathology of skin has been established to be useful in the diagnosis of several skin lesions.This study aims to evaluate cytopathology as a quick non-invasive method for early diagnosis of different skin conditions including neoplastic and nonneoplastic.Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) is a simple and rapid diagnostic technique.The present study is a retrospective analysis of 356 patients who were cytologically evaluated for various skin and superficial soft tissue lesions over a period of four years (W.E. F. January 2012 to December 2015) in the Department of Dermatology and Pathology of Tripura Medical College and Dr. BRAM Teaching Hospital.Amongst the 356 cases reported, 170 cases were non-neoplastic and 186 were reported as neoplastic skin lesions.Out of 186 neoplastic lesions, 134 (72.04%) were benign in nature and rest of the cases were malignant, i.e.only 52 cases (27.95%).Commonest non-neoplastic lesion epidermal inclusion cyst followed by acute suppurative lesions.Other lesions which were commonly reported in our study were Granulomatous lesions.It has been observed that FNAC performed carefully, skilfully with proper selection of cases leads to an early diagnosis in majority of the skin lesions.