English

Abstract

BACKGROUND The breast is composed of both specialised epithelial cells and stroma. Both benign and malignant lesions can occur in the breast as a palpable lump. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a rapid, easy to perform, minimally invasive and low cost first line high-diagnostic accuracy test for cytopathological evaluation of palpable breast lump with minimum complications. METHODS The study was carried out to evaluate the cytopathological patterns of 2706 palpable breast lumps by fine needle aspiration (FNA) procedure and cytohistopathological correlation of the available biopsied palpable breast lumps of the study in the Pathology department of Tezpur Medical College and Hospital, Assam, for a period of three years from July 01, 2016 to June 30, 2019. RESULTS Out of 2706 palpable breast lumps in the study, FNA smears of 19 (0.70 %) were inadequate for cytopathological reporting. Out of the remaining 2687 palpable breast lumps where FNA was adequate for cytopathological reporting, female patients (n = 2594) comprised 96.54 % and male patients (n = 93) comprised 3.46 % with a male and female ratio of 1:27.9. Out of the 2687 palpable breast lumps, 2318 were benign breast diseases (86.27 %) and 369 were malignant neoplasms (13.73 %), with a benign and malignant ratio of 6.28:1. Out of the benign breast lumps, fibroadenoma breast was seen in 1228 (52.98 %) and of the malignant neoplasms, infiltrating duct carcinoma was seen in 341 (92.41 %). Cytohistopathological correlation showed 98.70 % sensitivity, 99.38 % specificity, 99.35 % positive predictive value, 98.76 % negative predictive value, and 99.04 % diagnostic accuracy. CONCLUSIONS FNAC has high sensitivity and specificity in cytopathological diagnosis of palpable breast lumps. Based on the accurate cytopathological diagnosis of the palpable breast lumps, patients with palpable breast lumps can be given adequate treatment. KEYWORDS Fibroadenoma, Gynaecomastia, Duct Papilloma, Infiltrative Duct Carcinoma, Medullary Carcinoma, Mucinous Carcinoma, Malignant Phyllodes