Reliability of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) in Very Small Breast Lumps.

FNAC diagnosis and subsequent histopathology of 166 breast lumps of different sizes, depth and mobility were studied prospectively over a 10-year period (1990-2000) and grouped into two groups. Group-I of lumps <2cm and Group-II of lumps >2cm (control 80 cases). They were again subclassified as deep or not deep and mobile or fixed. Statistically significant positive correlation was found in all categories for less accurate diagnosis of lumps of <2 cm as compared to those of >2 cm. Therefore, because of low diagnostic accuracy in Group- I, it is recommended that for lumps <2cm even if the FNAC diagnosis is “non-malignant” a lumpectomy histopathological examination be done.