Cytomorphology of breast lesions with historadiological correlation in a tertiary care centre of Puducherry

Introduction: Breast cancer is the leading cause of morbidity & mortality worldwide. Breast being a surface organ, is easily palpable for aspiration. Diagnosis is often done by correlating fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) findings with mammography. The aim of this study was to evaluate the FNAC in the diagnosis of breast lesions and to correlate cytological findings with histopathology findings along with mammography. Methodology: Over a period of three years, 329 aspirations were performed, 158 (48.03%) cases that had followed up by histopathological examination were included in the study. Results: Among the 158 cases studied, 154 (97.47%) cases were females and 4 (2.53%) cases were males. The incidence of breast lesions was maximum in the range of 21 to 30 years of age (24.68%). Most commonly encountered benign breast lesion was fibroadenoma (70.53%). Most commonly encountered malignant breast lesion was IDC (30.95%).Taking histopathology as the golden standard for diagnosis, we calculated the sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy, positive predicitve value, negative predictive value of FNAC and mammography. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predicitve value, negative predictive value of a mammogram were found to be 98.68%, 78.12%, 98.17% and 83.33% respectively while that of FNAC were found to be 87.23%, 100%, 96.05%, 100% and 94.87% respectively. Conclusion: From present study it is evident that benign breast lesions are common than malignant lesions. The simplicity, rapidity, lack of morbidity, high sensitivity, high specificity and cost effectiveness of FNAC makes it the most valuable tool in the evaluation of both neoplastic and non-neoplastic breast lesions.