ABSTRACT
Background: Mammary gland carcinoma is the most common malignant tumor. Annually worldwide more than1,000,000 cases of breast carcinoma occur, which is the leading cause of carcinoma death in women. The most relevant and important method to diagnose breast cancer is Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC). The use of core needle biopsy (CNB) has been increasing because of various limitations. Advantages of core needle biopsy over FNAC is, that core needle biopsy provide sufficient tissue for definitive histological diagnosis, differentiate between invasive cancer and carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in diagnostic accuracy in using CNB and FNAC in patients with palpable breast lumps undergoing breast surgery. Methods: This was cross sectional type of study conducted in the Department of General Surgery at Muzaffarnagar Medical College, Muzaffarnagar. The study was carried out from July 2016 to March 2018. The study population was recruited from the patients presenting with suspicious palpable breast lump clinically and/or radiologically, attending at General Surgery Outpatient Department (OPD), Muzaffarnagar Medical College, Muzaffarnagar. Hundred (100) patients suffering from breast lumps were included in this study. Results: Total 58 patients (58% of total patients with breast lump) were found with malignancy having C5 category of FNAC. All of them confirmed malignancy after the surgery. FNAC showed malignancy in 58% cases of breast lump. There was no false positive case in FNAC findings. Rest of 42 patients showed non-malignant breast lumps which showed C2, C3 and C4 category of FNAC. Findings after excision biopsy showed that there were 26 patients (26%) were false negative. Conclusion: Findings of the present study suggest that FNAC is almost equally effective technique for the diagnosis of malignancy in patients suffering carcinoma of mammies. FNAC is considered as an economical, less complicated, rapid and reliable method for the pathological diagnosis of breast carcinoma in a developing country like India. Malignant tumour can be exactly diagnosed by FNAC as it is highly sensitive for malignancy. CNB should be put after FNAC If initial FNAC fails to determine the type of tumour, CNB can be a useful second line method of pathological diagnosis in order to minimize the chance of missed diagnosis of breast cancer. Excision biopsy should be considered as last option for pathological diagnosis.