Abstract
Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a simple procedure for a quick cytological diagnosis of suspicious breast lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate its diagnostic value in our institution.
Methods: It was a hospital-based retrospective cross-sectional study conducted in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital from 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2023. A total of 93 cases of breast lumps studied with FNAC and compared with their corresponding histological reports were statistically analysed.
Results: The most common age group was 41-50 years. All the cytologically-diagnosed malignant lesions were confirmed malignant on histology but there were three cases of false negative results. The diagnostic accuracy of FNAC was 96.2% and it has a strong correlation with histology (r =0.811, p <0.001).
Conclusion: FNAC has proved to be a useful diagnostic test in evaluating breast lesions in our setting, but its accuracy can still be improved to eliminate false and inconclusive diagnoses.
Keywords
Breast lesions, FNAC, Histology, Diagnostic accuracy