Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Neck Lesion- An Experience at Tertiary Care Hospital in Central Gujarat

Introduction: Fine needle aspiration cytology has become a rapid, cost effective investigative method for obtaining reliable tissue diagnosis especially for the sites like neck where considerable overlapping of various structures makes it difficult to reach to exact diagnosis. Objective: Present study was taken up to evaluate role of FNA in management and diagnosis of various neck lesions and to compare FNA with conventional biopsy for providing correct tissue diagnosis. Method: Total 641 cases of neck lesions were subjected to FNA and out of these, 71 were further subjected to conventional surgical biopsy and results were correlated histologically. FNACs were performed in outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital by 23-24 gauge needle and 10 ml syringe. Results: Out of total 591 satisfactory smears, there were 140 thyroid lesions, 20 salivary gland lesions, 400 lymphnode lesions, 31 cystic lesions of neck. The overall sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of FNA for neck lesions were 93.1%, 100%, 98.4%, 90.1% & 100% respectively. Conclusion: Thus, this study concludes that FNAC is quite sensitive, specific, accurate investigative procedure with very good patient compliance. Use of FNAC should be encouraged as an investigation for initial diagnostic evaluation of neck lesions and as a tool to avoid unnecessary surgical procedures and its complications.