Fine-needle aspiration cytology of salivary gland lesions

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a sensitive, specific, cost-effective tool and has been widely used as a diagnostic tool for the management of various head-and-neck lesions. Salivary gland lesions constitute the most common head-and-neck lesions. These lesions can range from inflammatory to neoplastic, which can be either benign or malignant.

The study was performed on 104 patients who presented with salivary gland swelling to the department of pathology at a tertiary care center from January 2016 to June 2020. FNAC was performed using a 22-24G needle, and smears were stained with Giemsa, hematoxylin and eosin and Papanicolaou stain. Histopathology was assessed on routine hematoxylin- and eosin-stained paraffin sections. The cytological and histopathological slides were studied, analyzed and correlated. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive were calculated.

The study included 104 cases in the age range of 10-70 years and a mean of 45 years (±16 standard deviation). There was a male preponderance with a male-to-female ratio of 1.6:1. The parotid gland was the most common site 91 (87%). On cytology, 71 (68%) were neoplastic, of which 58 (81%) were benign and 13 (19%) were malignant. Histopathological correlation was available in 36 cases (50%), 24 (67%) of which were benign and the remaining 12 (33%) were malignant. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the present study are 95%, 85%, 91% and 92%, respectively.

FNAC of the salivary gland is a safe, reliable and cost-effective technique which can be used as the first line of investigation in evaluating salivary gland lesions.