Comparison of results of fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC] with histopathology of lymph nodes

ABSTRACT

To evaluate usefulness of FNAC by comparing its results with histological methods. A retrospective study was carried out at Ghurki Trust Hospital, Lahore. Those patients were included in which both FNAC was done and histopathological diagnosis made after removing lymph node. 118 patients were finally studied The FNAC diagnosis and histopathological reports were compared. Out of 118 cases, 34 cases were diagnosed as malignant on histology. All ten cases of NHL were correctly diagnosed on FNAC. In 10 cases of Hodgkin's, 6 were correctly diagnosed by FNA, so there were 4 false negative cases of Hodgkin's disease. Out of 18 cases of metastatic carcinoma on FNAC, 12 cases were correctly diagnosed and 2 cases later turned malignant on repeat histology. There were therefore 4 false positive cases of metastatic carcinoma. It can be concluded from this study that FNAC is a useful diagnostic adjunct to conventional method of diagnosis i.e. surgery