Cyto-Histopathological Correlation of Breast Lump as a Part of Internal Quality Control

Abstract

Background: Breast malignancy is the most widely recognized tumor in females around the world. With the advent of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), the approach to diagnosis and management of breast lesions has been revolutionized. Its accuracy in many situations can approach that of histopathology in providing an unequivocal diagnosis. Hence a review was undertaken with the following objectives. To correlate cytological and histopathological diagnosis of breast lesions as a part of internal quality control. To know the incidence of false positive and false negative cases. To find out the sensitivity and specificity of FNAC of breast lesions. Methods: This study was conducted for a period of 2 year and 102 aspirations of breast lumps studied. Out of which 82 cases were followed- up by histopathological correlation. Results: Cytological diagnosis in general was divided into four categories, benign (76.29%), malignant (18.29%), suspicious (2.44%), and unsatisfactory (00). Age of the patient was range from 16 - 62 years with mean age of 32 years. There were 76 female patients and 06 male patients. Fibroadenoma (54.87%) was most common benign neoplasm. The two cases which were categorized as “Epithelial Hyperplasia, Suspicious” by cytology turned out to be malignant lesions on histopathology. Sensitivity and specificity of FNAC in breast lesions were reported to be 88.24 % and 100% respectively, with 100% positive predictive value and 97.01% negative predictive value. Conclusion: Considering the high specificity and sensitivity of aspiration cytology in the cases of breast lesion, it can be established as an internal quality control at tertiary centre to minimize economical stress demanded for EQAS (External Quality Assessment Scheme).