title: Fine needle aspiration cytology of parapharyngeal tumors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parapharyngeal tumors are rare and often pose diagnostic difficulties due to their location and plethora of presentations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study was undertaken to study the occurrence in the population and to evaluate the exact nature by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of five hundred and six cases of lateral neck lesions were studied over three and half years. Of these 56 suspected parapharyngeal masses were selected by clinical and radiological methods. Cytopathology evaluation was done by fine needle aspiration cytology with computed tomography and ultrasonography guidance wherever necessary. Histopathology confirmation was available in all the cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On FNAC diagnosis could be established in 54 cases while in two cases the material was insufficient to establish a diagnosis. The tumors encountered were, pleomorphic adenoma (33), schwannoma (3), neurofibroma (11), paraganglioma (5), angiofibroma (1) and adenoid cystic carcinoma (1). Four false positives and two false negative cases were encountered. Overall sensitivity was 96%, with specificity of 99% and accuracy being 98.8%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With proper clinical and radiological assessment, FNAC can be extremely useful in diagnosing most of these lesions except a few which need histopathological and even immunohistochemical confirmation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Medical College, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Palash
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.forename: Sanjay Sen
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Nirmal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: Mamata Guha
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Mallick