The value of fine-needle aspiration cytology in the evaluation of pediatric head and neck tumors.
OBJECTIVE
To study the efficacy of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of head and neck masses in pediatric patients.


METHODS
Of the 128 cases studied, FNAC was performed in 74 patients and their cyto-histological correlation done. Sensitivity and specificity of cytological diagnosis was then computed.


RESULTS
Benign lesions were found to be more common than the malignant variety, the commonest being soft tissue tumors (46.87%). Lymphomas were the commonest tumors (22.6%) in the malignant category. Cytology was done in 74 patients of whom smears from 21 patients were unsatisfactory for diagnosis. There was one false positive and two false negative cases resulting in the specificity and sensitivity of FNAC in pediatric head and neck tumors to be 95.65% and 93.3% respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
FNAC is a useful and reliable tool in the diagnosis of head and neck masses with no contraindications and minimal complications even in children.
Department of Pathology, J.N. Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, 202002, India.
Kiran
K
Alam
Roobina
R
Khan
Anshu
A
Jain
Veena
V
Maheshwari
Surabhi
S
Agrawal
R S
RS
Chana
S H
SH
Harris
D000293:Adolescent; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology