title: Diagnostic evaluation of fine needle aspiration cytology in the management of palpable breast lesions.
abstract: A total of 113 fine needle aspirates of the breast masses were evaluated in which the subsequent biopsy or mastectomy specimen were also available for histological examination. The age ranged from 16 to 80 years with a mean of 42 years. In benign conditions the mean age was 34.7 years while in malignant cases it was 48 years. The cytological diagnoses were compared with the histological results which revealed that the specificity and sensitivity of fine needle aspiration cytology in the palpable breast lesions was 86.1% and 89.2% respectively with a positive predictive value of 93% and efficiency of 88.2%. Similar statistics from other series in which the cytological results of breast lesions were compared with histological results, revealed almost same results which suggest that fine needle aspiration cytology is an effective and accurate technique for the diagnosis and management of palpable breast lumps.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kayani
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hasan
authors.forename: I N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Soomro
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pervez
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hussainy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001941:Breast Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity