Specimen of Structured Abstract: Efficacy of FNAC in Palpable Breast Lumps

Abstract

To determine the efficacy of FNAC in breast lumps, 60 patients with palpable breast lumps were included in this study, over a period of one year i.e. from August 1997 to August 1998. Results of FNAC were compared with postoperative histopathological reports. FNAC could detect 20 out of 20 malignant tumours (100%). Out of those 20 malignant tumours 12 were invasive ductal carcinomas and 8 were intraductal carcinomas (100%). There were no false positive results, thus FNAC accuracy was 100%. For 40 lesions labeled as benign by the histopathologist, FNAC could detect 30(75%) lesions while 10(20%) were labeled unsatisfactory for diagnosis. FNAC could be very helpful in preoperative work up of patients with palpable breast lumps. FNAC has high degree of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy due to which it is not only a useful adjunct in the diagnosis of breast malignancies but it can also be extremely useful for identifying the benign lesion.