DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2013.v01i06.0035

Pages: 804-813

The objective of the study was to evaluate efficacy of FNAC (Fine needle aspiration cytology) in non-neoplastic lesions of breast. A total of 300 randomly selected cases of breast lumps over a period of 18 months from Jan 2010 to July 2012 were evaluated clinically and subjected to FNAC to find out spectrum of non- neoplastic lesions. Such cases were studied for cytohistological correlation. The smears were stained with leishman, papanicolaou, H&E and special stains like ZN & PAS wherever necessary. Out of 350 cases, 20 were inadequate aspirations (adequacy 94.3%). Out of 330 breast aspirations, 100 cases showed non-neoplastic pathology. The most commonly encountered lesions were acute mastitis or abscess (52%), followed by fibrocystic disease of breast (31%), followed by lactational breast (8%), simple cyst (4%) and 2% each of tuberculous mastitis and duct ectasia. One case of xanthogranulomatous mastitis was observed. Histopathological studies were possible in 60 cases which were therapeutic interventions. Discordant cases included 4 cases of fibrocystic disease which showed florid ductal hyperplasia on histology and a case of xanthogranulomatous mastitis misdiagnosed on cytology as benign breast disease. Cytohistological correlation of non-neoplastic lesions was seen in 90% cases. Sensitivity of cytology was 98.2 % and specificity was 100%, positive predictive value was 100%, negative predictive value was 93.2%. Our results were correlated with previous studies. From the study it can be concluded that FNAC of non-neoplastic lesions enjoyed utmost sensitivity & specificity and turned out to be cost effective procedure for diagnosis. Cytology helped in avoiding unnecessary surgery in 45% cases.