Fine needle aspiration cytology and breast cancer diagnosis

The authors report on 315 histologically confirmed consecutive breast cancer (BC) cases undergoing fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Inadequate smears were infrequent (7%), particularly when reaspiration of inadequate cases was employed (1-2%). FNAC suspected BC in 81% of the total or 88% of adequate smears. Univariate and multivariate (Cox's model) analyses showed no correlation between inadequacy or suspect/positive FNAC rate and patient age, T category or histologic type. Differences in the inadequacy and suspect/positive rate were recorded among 30 operators (surgeons, oncologists, radiologists) performing the sampling, but the average results were consistent with literature reports. FNAC was found to be a useful diagnostic tool for BC diagnosis, and proper training of the highest number of operators is recommended to allow the widest diffusion of this diagnostic technique.