title: Aspiration cytology in the management of breast lesions.
abstract: In a group of patients with breast lumps, diagnosis made by pre-operative aspiration cytology was compared with that obtained by histological section of excised specimens. Results showed that aspiration cytology correctly diagnosed 89% of malignant lesions and 92.6% of benign lesions based upon histological diagnosis. Cytological diagnosis of benign disease had a false negative rate of 6% while cytological diagnosis of malignant disease had a 2.7% false positive rate. Only 3.5% of cytologies returned an inadequate diagnosis. This study shows that aspiration cytology should be useful in allowing a better psychological preparation of patients before surgery as well as better utilization of operation theatre facilities.
authors.affiliation: Kwong Wah Hospital, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gwi
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Law
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D001940:Breast / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005348:Fibrocystic Breast Disease / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests