Introduction: A palpable breast lump is a common diagnostic problem both to the general practitioner and to the surgeon, which needs rapid definitive diagnosis at the busy Outpatient Clinic. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) has become the first choice for diagnosis after initial clinical evaluation.
Aim of the Work: This study was designed to investigate the validity of FNAC in the diagnosis of palpable breast lumps.
Subjects and Methods: Seventy two patients were included in the study. FNAC, Tru cut needle biopsy (TCNB) and surgical biopsy specimens (SBS) were obtained from 72, 57 and 71 patients, respectively. The success rate, sensitivity and specificity of FNAC were compared to those of TCNB.
Results: FNAC can perfectly differentiate between benign and malignant breast lesions with no false positive results recorded. The success rate, sensitivity and specificity of FNAC were 76.1%, 93.4% and 78.3%, respectively compared to 89.5%, 86.1% and 100% of TCNB, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 97.8% and 88% for FNAC and 100% and 77% for TCNB, respectively.
Conclusion: Compared to the TCNB, FNAC is an easy reliable diagnostic tool for breast lumps with a high success rate, sensitivity and specificity.