Fine needle aspiration cytology versus histopathology in some breast diseases

FNAC is a patient friendly, easy, reliable, repeatable and simple diagnostic test. When performed by an expert pathologist, the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC is very high. A high sensitivity and a high positive predictive value proved that a positive FNAC in the breast means a definite diagnosis of the concerned pathology if compared with the final histology report.The high specificity and a high negative predictive value for malignancy illustrated the high accuracy of FNAC in the diagnosis of malignancy in the breast. Very importantly, a report negative for malignancy was highly accurate (> 92%) in predicting an absence of malignancy. Thus, we have no hesitation in concluding that FNAC is a very important preliminary diagnostic test in palpable breast lumps, and done by expert hands, the results show a high degree of correlation with the final histopathological report.