Fine needle aspiration as a primary diagnostic procedure of breast lumps

Two hundred and sixty-seven patients from the ages between 17 to 70 years with breast lumps attending the Cytology Clinic of the Out-patients Department and Cytology Section of the Department of Pathology, M.K.C.G. Medical College, Berhampur (Orissa), were subjected to Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC). Sixty-four patients were discarded from study because of non-availability of biopsy specimens and unsuitable smears. When cytological results were compared with those of histological sections, 100 per cent correct diagnosis was made in chronic mastitis and lobular carcinoma, 94.24 per cent in infiltrating duct carcinoma and 84.60 percent in duct papilloma and with the maximum over diagnosis to the tune of 14.75 per cent was found in fibro-adenoma. An overall correct diagnosis was made in 88.67 percent of cases by FNAC.