European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

A palpable breast lump is defined as a dominant mass if it is 3-dimensional, distinct from surrounding tissues and asymmetrical relative to the other Breast. A method of definitive diagnosis of patients who present with palpable breast lump at the outpatient department is needed. It must be accurate, easy to perform affordable and acceptable to the patient. This study was conducted to correlation of the diagnostic accuracy of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) in differentiating the benign and malignant lesions of palpable breast lump with histopathological correlation.
A Prospective descriptive study done in 50 patients presenting with palpable lump in the Breast to Surgery department, history taken, clinically examined and sent to Central Diagnostic Lab, cytopathology section for FNAC. Patient underwent Surgical procedure after correlating with clinical examination and radiological investigations. Post-operative specimen sent for Histopathological examination. Cytological diagnosis was compared with Histopathology. Specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, and predictive values were calculated using standard formulas. Diagnostic accuracy of FNAC was 94% and overall sensitivity of FNAC in diagnosing the palpable breast lump was 94%, specificity was 100%, positive predictive of 100% and negative predictive value of 93%. Study concludes that the diagnostic efficacy, sensitivity and specificity of FNAC were comparable to Histopathological examination. Hence FNAC becomes a very important diagnostic tool in palpable breast lumps as it shows a high degree of correlation with the final histopathology report.