Diagnostic accuracy of pre-operative fine needle aspiration cytology in accessible masses

ABSTRACT

Fine needle aspiration [FNA] is a simple, rapid and inexpensive technique of sampling. A comparative study was carried out on 60 patients with accessible masses, including 29 cases of breast masses, nineteen cases of thyroid swellings and 12 cases of subcutaneous soft tissue masses. The highest accuracy rate was found in breast masses [93.1%], followed by thyroid swellings [84.2%], then subcutaneous tissue swellings [75%]. Cytologically undiagnosed breast cases were attributed to presence of dense sclerotic stroma, which yielded unsatisfactory smears. While in thyroid swellings, misdiagnosis of some cases was explained by coexistence of two pathologic lesions or similar features of benign and malignant well differentiated follicular tumors. In subcutaneous masses, FNA has a valuable role even in undiagnosed cases as it could differentiate between benign and malignant tumors