English

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Salivary gland neoplasms comprise 3-10% of all head and neck neoplasms. Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) is being widely used to establish a diagnosis in the salivary gland masses. AIM: The aim of the study is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC in diagnosing salivary gland neoplasms at a tertiary referral center. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted between July 2005 and June 2007 in the department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana. All the patients with salivary gland neoplasms who underwent preoperative FNAC followed by surgical procedure and histo-pathological examination, were included. The FNAC diagnosis was compared with the final histological impression. Considering the histo-pathological diagnosis as gold standard, the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC was calculated. RESULTS: 47 cases were included in the study. On FNAC, 35 cases were diagnosed as benign, 10 cases as malignant and 2 cases were identified as neoplastic but suspicious for malignancy. Histopathology diagnosed 35 cases as benign and 12 cases as malignant. FNAC was unable to correctly identify one benign and one malignant neoplasm. FNAC showed a sensitivity of 91.66%, a specificity of 97.14%, a positive predictive value of 91.66%, a negative predictive value of 97.14% and a diagnostic accuracy of 95.74%. CONCLUSION: FNAC provides a rapid and accurate modality of diagnosis on OPD basis. It is an important and useful diagnostic tool in the preoperative assessment and management of patients with salivary gland neoplasms.