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International Journal of Recent Trends in Science and Technology, ISSN 2277-2812 E-ISSN: 2249-8109

Volume 6, Issue 1, Febraury 2013 pp 13-16

Research Article

Comparison of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) and Histopathology in the Diagnosis of Neck Masses

 

G. G. Swamy1*, B. Chandrasekhar2, J. Parameswari3, S. Madhuravani4

{1Associate Professor, 2Assistant Professor, 3Professor & HOD} Dept. of Pathology, 4Medico Social worker, Dept. of Community Medicine, Great Eastern Medical School and Hospital, Ragolu, Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.

 

 

Academic Editor : Dr. Aher K.R.

Abstract

 

Objective: Neck masses are a common clinical finding, affecting all age groups. These lumps may be extremely worrying for both physician and patient, as a wide variety of pathological conditions. Accurate cytological analysis has played a major role in evaluation and planning for surgery. We attempted to evaluate the role of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) in diagnosing lump lesions of the neck region and to review the diversity of lesions in the patients attending the hospital. Material and Methods: The study was conducted prospectively in the Department of pathology at Great Eastern Medical School- Teaching Hospital, Srikakulam, India a tertiary health care centre. The target population comprised patients presenting with palpable masses at neck region during the period of December 2010 to December 2012. The accuracy of FNAC was verified by histological examination in this final study group of (n=136) patients. Results: In these (n=136) patients, twenty were males and hundred were females. Thyroid gland (60%) was the commonest site aspirated, followed by lymph node (35%), and soft tissue lesions (5%). In our study the sensitivity was 87.5%, the specificity was 100%, the positive predictive value was 100%, the negative predictive value was 98.50% and false negatives were 12.0%. Summary and Conclusion: We concluded that FNAC is a safe, cost-effective, sensitive and specific technique in the initial evaluation of head and neck masses. A correct cytological diagnosis can be achieved in a majority of cases, avoiding the need for surgical interventions.