Audit of repeat fine needle aspiration in cytopathology laboratory

Background: FNAC is cost-effective, high diagnostic accuracy, reliable, rapid and inexpensive procedure in diagnosis of various clinically palpable as well as deep seated swellings. This study was intended to discover factors associated with repeat aspiration with the help of audit of cytology laboratory. Material and methods: Retrospective study of 248 cases which came to Cytology Laboratory of Dhiraj Hospital during the period of 1st January 2013 to 30th December 2013 had included. All patients who attended the Cytology laboratory for the FNAC procedure and USG guided FNAC were included in the study. Data for the audit was collected from the cytology records. The following information was documented for this audit: Age and sex, site of FNAC, documented reasons for repeat and patient IPD/OPD numbers. We had also noted the documented reasons for repeats and the duration between the repeats. Results: Out of 248 aspirations, 61 from breast swellings, 75 from the lymph nodes, 58 from the thyroid lesions, and 54 were from the miscellaneous lesions. 31 patients (12.5%) were advised repeat aspiration and 22 (8.87%) were actually repeated. In our study the most common cause for the repeat aspiration was inadequate cellularity (51.61%). Outcome of the repeat aspirations included 16 (72.73%) diagnostic and 6 (27.27%) non diagnostic aspirations. Conclusion: In our study, there were so many reasons for the repeat aspirates. In order of occurrence these are: Inadequate aspirates, non-diagnostic descriptive reports and hemorrhagic aspiration.