Cytology of Lung Carcinomas with Subtyping of Non-small Cell lung Carcinoma (NSCLC)

OBJECTIVE FNAC of lung masses is done for diagnosis of malignancy and typing because histopathological types have variable prognosis and different response to therapy. MATERIAL AND METHOD We hereby describe the cytological features of lung tumors in 50 cases. Guided FNAC was performed on all the cases with suspected lung lesion. M F ratio was 2.51. The age range was 18year to 85year. Primarily the diagnosis was made on conventional cytological stains according to IALTS guidelines. RESULT Out of 50 cases, 39 lung tumors were identified. Out of 39 cases, 34 cases were primary lung epithelial malignancies. Six were small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and 28 cases were non small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).28 cases of NSCLC were subtyped [on the basis of cytomorphological features in addition with the use of mucin stains (D-PAS)] as 15 cases of adenocarcinoma, 5 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, 6 cases of NSCLC-NOS type and two cases of mixed tumors, one with ADC & SCC and the other with SCLC & ADC features. The most common lung tumor was Adenocarcinoma followed by small cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION As the treatment modalities are different for both of the tumors accurate subtyping of NSCLC into Adenocarcinoma and Squamous cell carcinoma is very essential so that patients get benefit of specific targeted therapy and appropriate molecular testing can be done. FNAC is a very useful and rapid technique for the diagnosis of lung tumor and can be combined with cytochemical and immunohistochemical stains for exact categorization. So that patient can be managed properly and simultaneously tissue can be preserved for molecular studies.