A Comparative Study between FNAC and Histopathology in Diagnosis of Breast Lump

Worldwide a large number of patients have been suffering from breast lump and this trend is gradually increasing. It is difficult to determine whether a lump is benign or malignant from clinical assessment. Thus the need for microscopic tissue analysis arises. This study was designed to determine the value of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of breast lumps and to compare the result of FNAC with histopathological diagnosis to assess its accuracy. A prospective study in the period of January 2009 to December 2010 was done. One hundred and ten (110) patients who came to the Department of Surgery in Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh in two years for their palpable breast masses were chosen for the study. There were 70(63.63%) benign, 33(30.00%) malignant and 07(6.36%) suspicious smears in FNAC. Inadequate samples were repeated. The number of repeats increased the diagnostic accuracy of aspirates which is statistically significant when compared with histopathology. In histopathology Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most commonly reported lesion with maximum incidence in the 4th, 5th, and 6th decades followed by invasive lobular carcinoma and other malignant lesions. FNAC serves as a rapid, economical and reliable tool for the diagnosis of palpable breast lesions and its reliability is influenced by the skillness of the aspirator. So physician should use this tool with clinical experience.