Fine needle aspiration cytology of bone and joint lesions: an assessment

Fine needle aspiration cytology and subsequent correlation with histology and therapeutic follow-up was done in 198 cases of bone and joint lesions. Overall accuracy was found to be 87.34%; false diagnosis was recorded in 4.5% of cases; 8.08% cases were excluded from correlation as they did not turn up for further treatment or follow-up after the diagnosis. False diagnosis was encountered mostly with inflammatory lesions and primary neoplasms, diagnosing osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma as chronic inflammatory lesion, chondroma as chondrosarcoma and vice versa. The possible cause of default has been discussed. The benign cystic lesions could be diagnosed with almost 100% accuracy by fine needle aspiration cytology where 10% cases were excluded as they could not be followed up.