Diagnostic efficacy of fine needle aspiration cytology in breast lesions

Background: Carcinoma of the breast is a leading cause of death in women and needs to be evaluated at an early stage. FNAC helps in rapid diagnosis of breast lesions and their management. Objective: To study the diagnostic efficacy of FNAC in breast lesions. Materials and methods: Three year retrospective study of 105 cases of breast lump was conducted which included cases, where FNAC and histopathological correlation was available. The cytological diagnosis was classified as inflammatory lesions, benign, atypical probably benign, suspicious for malignancy and malignant. Results: On cytology out of 105 cases, 57 were benign, 7 inflammatory lesions, 34 malignant and 7 were inadequate. Fibroadenoma was the most common benign lesion noted in age group of 21-30 years and infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the most common malignant lesion in 31-40 years age group. Diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of this study were 96.93%, 91.89% and 100% respectively. Conclusion: FNAC of breast lesions is a simple, safe and effective modality in pre-operative assessment of benign and malignant lesions and shows high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity.