Fine Needle Aspiration of the Breast in Nakhonpathom Hospital

Abstract

Objective : To evaluate the efficiency of breast FNA by correlation between cytologic and histologic diagnoses.

Materials and methods : The author reviewed the records of patients who had undergone breast fine needle aspiration and subsequent histopathologic diagnoses during January 2006 to December 2008 at the Department of Anatomical Pathology, Nakhonpathom hospital. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated with the assumption that the “suspicious” group was classified as positivity for malignancy and cases with an unsatisfactory diagnosis were not included in further analysis.

Results : There were 55 matching cases. Eliminating unsatisfactory results, statistical analysis of the remaining 46 cases yielded the following results : sensitivity 85%, specificity 96.1%, positive predictive value 94.4% and negative predictive value 89.2%.

Conclusion : The results compared favorably with those in the literature. An understanding of the performance and limitation of FNA can enhance its value as diagnostic in the management of breast disease.