title: Ultrasound-guided aspiration cytology of retroperitoneal masses with histopathological corroboration: A study of 71 cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diagnosis of retroperitoneal lesions is one of the most difficult areas in surgical pathology. Both primary and metastatic tumors can grow silently in retroperitoneum before the appearance of clinical signs and symptoms. Guided aspiration cytology has shown a promising role in diagnosis of lesions in this region.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was undertaken to evaluate the reliability of guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of retroperitoneal masses and to study the spectrum of retroperitoneal lesions in a rural tertiary care hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was done on 71 patients presenting with retroperitoneal masses over a period of 20 months in a tertiary care hospital. Ultrasound-guided FNAC was done and the smears were stained by MGG and H and E stains. Histopathological corroboration could be done on all neoplastic lesions along with some non-neoplastic lesions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 71 cases, 48 cases (67.6%) were found to be neoplastic. Malignant tumors (35 cases) were more common than benign ones (13 cases). Malignant lesions were predominantly composed of lesions of lymph node (17 cases i.e. 48.57%) followed by sarcomas (5 cases) and germ cell tumors. Some uncommon retroperitoneal lesions like adrenal myelolipoma, renal angiomyolipoma, Burkitt's lymphoma and adrenocortical carcinoma were found in our study. Guided FNAC could diagnose all the malignant lesions with 100% accuracy except in 2 cases of poorly differentiated carcinoma which came out to be non-Hodgkin lymphoma on subsequent biopsies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Guided FNAC is an inexpensive, rapid and reliable method for diagnosis of retroperitoneal masses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, North Bengal Medical College, Sushrutanagar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Indranil
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chakrabarti
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, North Bengal Medical College, Sushrutanagar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Sourav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhowmik
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, North Bengal Medical College, Sushrutanagar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Mamata Guha Mallick
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, North Bengal Medical College, Sushrutanagar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Pranati
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bera
keywords: Retroperitoneal masses; Ultrasound guided; fine needle aspiration cytology