title: Fine needle aspiration cytology of non-hematological neoplasms in pediatric age group: Our experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The role of aspiration cytology has largely been ignored in pediatric population. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the role of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in non-hematological neoplasms in children in our institution, which is a rural tertiary care center.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 88 cases of non-hematological pediatric mass lesions were studied in which cytopathological diagnosis could be corroborated with histopathology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of all the cases, 70 (80%) cases were benign tumors and 18 (20%) were malignant tumors. Fibroadenoma (37.9%) comprised the majority of cases in the benign category while small round cell tumors (SRCTs) (44.4%) comprised the majority of cases in the malignant category. Definite diagnosis could be offered based on the cytomorphology in 79.5% cases, while in 20.5% of cases only a broad cytological classification could be offered. Among the malignant lesions, FNAC showed 100% sensitivity while a specific diagnosis was made in 90% of cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FNAC proved to be a rapid and fairly accurate tool in diagnosing non-hematological tumors in the pediatric age group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, North Bengal Medical College, Sushrutanagar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Mimi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gangopadhyay
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: Piyali
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, North Bengal Medical College, Sushrutanagar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Nilanjana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ghosh
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
keywords: Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC); non-hematological neoplasms; pediatric