title: FNAC Versus Core Needle Biopsy: A Comparative Study in Evaluation of Palpable Breast Lump.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast carcinoma is the most common malignant tumour and the leading cause of carcinoma death in women in world. The main purpose of FNAC or CNB of breast lumps is to confirm cancer preoperatively and to avoid unnecessary surgery in specific benign conditions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to compare between Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) and Core Needle Biopsy (CNB) in the diagnosis of breast carcinoma with final histological diagnosis from excision specimen as it is gold standard.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study was done on 50 cases. Patients undergoing all three procedures (Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology and Core Needle Biopsy done at Department of Pathology; subsequent excision surgeries done at Department of General Surgery) were selected. May Grunwald Giemsa (MGG) and Papaniculou (PAP) staining were performed on cytology smears. Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining was done on both the CNB and tissue specimens obtained from subsequent excision surgeries to see the histological features.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FNAC showed sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy were 69%, 100%, 100%, 38.1%, and 74% respectively in diagnosing carcinoma. CNB had sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy of 88.3%, 100%, 100%, 53.3% and 86%. Both FNAC and CNB showed statistically significant correlation with confirmatory HPE of excision specimen (p-value <0.05) in the diagnosis of breast carcinoma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a rapid, less complicated, economical, reliable and relevant method for the preoperative pathological diagnosis of breast carcinoma in a developing nation like ours. If the initial FNAC is inadequate, core needle biopsy (CNB) can be a useful second line method of pathological diagnosis in order to minimize the chance of missed diagnosis of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Asssitant Professor, Department of Pathology, KIMS , Amalapuram, Andrapradesh, India .
authors.forename: Abhijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Pathology, IPGME & R , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Madhumita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mukhopadhyay
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, IPGME & R , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Chhanda
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Student, Department of Patholgy, IPGME & R , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Koushik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Ashis Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Surgery, IPGME & R , Kolkata, West Bengal, India .
authors.forename: Diptendra Kr
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Sarkar
keywords: Breast carcinoma; Ductal carcinoma; Ductal hyperplasia