DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF (FNAC) BIOPSY IN PALPABLE MAMMARY LESIONS

Background:Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) has advantage of providing a diagnosis before the time of surgery; this situation enable the patient and surgeon to discuss and decide the type of surgery to be done and may obviate the need for a 2 stage procedure in surgical management of breast cancer.
Objectives:To study the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of FNAC of solid breast mass compared to histopathological examination.
Methods:A retrospective study includes 126 female patients palpable solid breast mass aged 17 to 67 years with masses in the breast. FNAC and histopathological studies was done to all of them.
Results:Fifty six patients had mass in the Rt. Breast and 70 (57.4%) had mass in the Lt. breast. 58 (47.5%) masses diagnosed as malignant (54 true-positive and 4 false negative) with diagnostic accuracy of 93% (54 of 58). Sixty four patients (52.5%) were diagnosed as benign (62 true-negative and 2 false positive) with diagnostic accuracy of 96.8% (62 of 64).
Conclusions: FNAC is simple, quick and relatively low cost procedure, with minimal patient discomfort; it is helpful in reducing the number of breast biopsies done for benign breast disease. It can provide a diagnosis before the time that operation is performed and this may help to obviate the need for two stage procedure in surgical management of breast cancer.
Keywords:Solid breast mass, FNAC, Histopathological examination.