Diagnostic Efficacy of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology for Breast Mass in Lampang Hospital

Abstract

Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of the breast lesion was widely adopted for the pathologic assessment. Variation in its accuracy among institutes still remained. There was no previous study about the FNAC efficacy in Lampang Hospital.
Objective: To assess the efficacy of breast FNAC in Lampang Hospital.
Material and method: Patients who had FNAC for breast masses and subsequent histological studies during January 2008-December 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Cytological diagnoses were classified according to five-tier system and compared to the histological diagnoses. Diagnostic performances of FNAC were assessed.
Results: A series of 795 FNAC results were identified. Among these, 98.2% were female and the mean age was 52.8 ± 11.9 years (range, 17- 94). The FNAC diagnoses were benign lesions in 33.7%, unsatisfactory in 27.4% and malignant in 19.1%. The correlated histological studies were available in 534 cases (67.2%). Diagnostic performances of FNAC for breast lesion were as follows: sensitivity 84.6%, specificity 97.7%, positive predictive value 98.5%, negative predictive value 78.0% and diagnostic accuracy 89.3%. False positive and false negative rate were 2.3% and 15.4% respectively.
Conclusion: The efficacy of FNAC in Lampang Hospital was high and appropriate for initial assessment of breast mass. Correlation with the clinical evaluation and radiological result should be considered for planning of treatment