Efficacy of FNAC in Diagnosis of Breast Lumps - A Retrospective Study

Background: FNAC is an established and highly accurate method for diagnosis of breast lesions. Its further advantage is to give rapid diagnosis, cost-effectiveness, excellent patient acceptance and minimal or no morbidity. The study aimed to diagnose various breast masses before operation by FNAC and to compare the result of FNAC with histopathological study to assess the efficacy of FNAC. Materials and Methods: The study entitled “Efficacy of FNAC in diagnosis of Breast Lumps” is a retrospective study conducted in department of surgery with collaboration of pathology department at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Patna during the period of July 2017 to December 2019. During this period, 150 FNAC cases were selected for study. Results: Fibroadenoma was the most commonly diagnosed entity in benign breast lesions, followed by fibrocystic disease. Among malignant lesions, infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the most common. The overall diagnostic accuracy of FNAC in benign breast lesions was 94.59%. The fibroadenomas were correctly diagnosed in 92.96% cases. There were 5.41% false negative results in our series. There was no false positive result giving specificity of 100%. Conclusion: FNAC is an inexpensive, simple, safe and readily acceptable procedure to the patient and plays main role to provide rapid and accurate diagnosis of breast lumps. FNAC enables us to differentiate benign from malignant lesions with high sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy. Keywords: Breast Lump, FNAC, HPE: Histopathological Examination.