Evaluation of Ultrasound Guided Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology for Diagnosing Lung Lesions – A 3-Year Study

ABSTRACT

Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) especially ultrasound guided has a very important role in diagnosing pulmonary lesions. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of image-guided percutaneous fine needle aspiration cytology in various lung lesions. This is a three-year retrospective study from August 2010 to July 2013. A total of 322 cases were included in the study. The clinical, radiological and cytological data of all 322 cases who underwent ultrasound guided FNAC were studied. Of the 322 cases in our study, malignancy was the predominant lesion found in 192 cases (59.62%) followed by inflammatory pathology 23 cases (7.1%). Among the malignant lesions, adenocarcinoma was the most common malignancy (26.56%) in females and males followed by squamous cell carcinoma (23.95%). Over the three-year period of the study, 92 cases were grouped under non-specific lesions/inadequate for interpretation. Percutaneous ultrasound-guided FNAC is a relatively safe and accurate procedure in the diagnosis of lung lesion especially peripheral lung lesions.