ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cytology for breast lesions is a safe, rapid and cost-effective with a high specificity and sensitivity. OBJECTIVE: To determine the cytomorphologic patterns of breast lesions identified among a group of Sudanese patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 759 patients undergoing either a fine needle aspiration FNA, nipple discharge (ND) smears or breast skin scraping (SS) at a cytology clinic in Khartoum. Clinical and demographic data were reviewed. Stained smears were categorized into: inadequate sample, normal breast, benign lesion, suspicious, or malignant neoplasm. RESULTS: of the 759 cases, 734 (96.71%) were FNA, 18 (2.37%) ND and 7 cases (0.92%) SS. For 28 cases, FNA was done under ultrasound guidance. Females were 720 (94.86%). Benign lesions were 423(55.75%) and 248 (32.67%) were malignant and 77 (10.14%) of smears were normal without any detected abnormality. Ten (1.31%) cases were suspicious for malignancy, and only one case (0.13%) was reported as inadequate. Most lesions were observed among the age group 30 years and above. CONCLUSION: Most patients investigated have benign lesions, one third of cytological smears were malignant. FNAC is a useful tool for investigating breast lesions in limited-resource settings.
