Retrospective study of fine needle aspiration cytology of clinically palpable breast lump

Introduction: Breast carcinomas are one of the leading causes of cancer in women. Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) is one of the important tools for the pre-operative diagnosis of breast lesions. Materials and methods: A total of 200 breast aspirates were studied. Histo-cytopathological correlations were obtained in all cases. All the aspirates were stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H and E) stain. Results: Among 200 patients, 195 were females and 5 were males. Benign breast lesions were found in 120 cases; among which fibroadenoma (34%) was the commonest lesion which was observed. Malignancy was observed in 80 cases; among them, ductal carcinoma was the predominant. Conclusion: We can conclude that FNA is widely accepted as a reliable technique in the initial evaluation of palpable breast lumps. It is simple, safe, cost-effective, minimally invasive, rapid and as sensitive as biopsy.