title: The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of fine needle aspirational cytology in the diagnosis of oro-facial neoplasms at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study is to compare the efficacy of fine needle aspirational cytology (FNAC) with open surgical biopsy in the diagnosis of orofacial tumours in patients seen at the Dental Centre of Lagos University Teaching Hospital from May 2005-May 2006.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fine needle aspiration was performed on all patients scheduled for open surgical biopsy at the Oral and Maxillofacial clinic of the hospital before the open surgical biopsy was done. Forty six patients whose final histological diagnoses were oro-facial neoplasms were involved in this study. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for fine needle aspirational cytology were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of fine needle aspirational cytology in the diagnosis of oro-facial tumours were 95%, 95.8% and 95.5%, respectively. The false positive and false negative rates were 5% and 4.2%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of fine needle aspirational cytology reported in this preliminary study suggest that the test may have a place in the management of oro-facial tumours. However, when the result of fine needle aspirational cytology is not in agreement with the clinical diagnosis, especially in suspected malignancy, open surgical biopsy should be performed.
authors.affiliation: Dpt. of Oral Pathology and Biology, Lagos Univ. Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
authors.forename: O G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Omitola
authors.forename: O F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Ajayi
authors.forename: A A F
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Banjo
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Anunobi
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Arotiba
mesh_terms: D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D005153:Facial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D009549:Nigeria; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity