RESUMO
The objective was to study the correlation between cytological and histopathological features and to find out the sensitivity and specificity of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of breast lesions. Two hundred patients were studied; 150 were retrospective and 50 were prospective cases. Only those patients who had FNAC followed by histopathological examination were included. Useful cytological parameters for diagnosis of malignancy were loss of cell cohesion, cell size, nuclear crowding and overlapping, nuclear size, type of chromatin, absence of bipolar naked nuclei and infiltration of stroma. In present study complete sensitivity was 96.2%, absolute sensitivity was 86.7%, predictive value was 100%, false negative were 1.9%. No false positive smear was seen. We concluded that a definitive diagnosis of malignancy by FNAC could be safely used for definitive treatment but the same was not true for non-malignant, suspicious or atypical smears. In these situations surgical biopsy was considered to be essential for definitive diagnosis.