Aspiration cytology of salivary gland lesions advantages and pitfalls

FNAC of the major salivary glands was performed on 72 patients during a period of two and a half years. In 64 patients samples were satisfactory. The cytologic diagnosis was correlated with histology available in 36 cases. 21 out of 22 benign lesions and 12 out 4 malignant lesions were correctly identified rendering a diagnostic accuracy of 91 percent. The pitfalls of FNAC of salivary gland lesions are reflected by the overall false positive rate of 5.5 percent of false negative rate of 2.7 percent. Diagnostic pitfalls are due to variability of tumor morphology which makes sampling & interpretation difficult. Multiple sampling and increasing experience help to minimize errors.