title: Critical clinical appraisal of the role of computed tomography-guided minimally invasive aspiration cytology in evaluation of retroperitoneal masses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is increasing in popularity as a means of diagnosing mass lesions in retroperitoneal area. With use of radiologic guidance for needle placement, this technique is an effective way to obtain diagnostic material.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aims of the study were (1) to establish the validity and reliability of fine needle aspiration cytology in preoperative diagnosis of retroperitoneal tumor, and (2) to compare the significance of cytological diagnosis with histopathological report.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, cross-sectional hospital-based study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, cross-sectional study was designed on 45 cases of clinically and radiologically diagnosed retroperitoneal tumor in a tertiary care hospital. Computerized tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous FNA was performed and cytology smears were stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa stain and conventional Papanicolaou (Pap) stain. Smears were broadly categorized into unsatisfactory, benign, suspicious of malignancy and malignant lesion. The cytological diagnosis was compared with subsequent histopathology report.
  
  
  METHODS
  Positive and negative predictive values, diagnostic accuracy, chi-square test and others.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total number of cases studied was 45, which include both epithelial tumors and mesenchymal tumors. Age group varied from 15 to 70 years. The overall sensitivity in our study to diagnose benign and malignant tumors by FNA cytology is 86% and the specificity is 96% with positive and negative predictive value of 86% and 96%, respectively. Diagnostic accuracy was 93.55% with high statistical significance (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FNA cytology is a simple, fast, reliable and less expensive method for diagnosis of various retroperitoneal neoplasms.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Chhanda
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Moumita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sengupta
authors.affiliation: Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Madhumita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mukhopadhyay
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, B.S Medical College, Bankura, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Ashis Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Saha
keywords: Computed tomography; May-Grünwald-Giemsa stain; fine needle aspiration cytology; histopathology; retroperitoneal mass