A cytological and histological comparative study of salivary gland lesions at tertiary health care centre

Abstract

Aim/Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC in various salivary gland lesion and its correlation with histopathology, which helps in the appropriate management of the patient. Materials and Methods: A total of 120 FNA were performed on salivary gland lesion from September 2013 to October 2014 at department of pathology in tertiary health care centre. Surgically resected, formalin fixed specimen were received, they were processed and slides were prepared. The cytological and histopathological stained slides were studied, analysed and correlated clinically. Results: The cytological features of 120 cases were studied and following lesions were observed in FNAC study of 120 cases: Pleomorphic adenoma were in 76, chronic sialadenitis in 16, Warthins tumour in 4, Cystic lesion in 5, Mucoepidermoid carcinoma in 6, Acinic cell carcinoma in 3, Carcinoma EX pleomorphic adenoma in 3, metastatic deposits in 2, benign parotid tumour in 2 and malignant tumour (unspecified) in 2, Neuroblastoma in 1. Out of 120 cases histopathology of 87 cases were available and out of which 75 cases were correlated in both cytology and histology. The sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy, positive predictive value, negative predictive value of present study is 89.29%, 91.67%, 86.21%, 96.15% and 78.57% respectively. Conclusion: FNAC of the salivary gland is a safe and reliable technique in the primary diagnosis of salivary gland lesions. FNAC of the salivary gland tumours has a high diagnostic accuracy, though rate of characterization of specific type of tumor is lower, due to variable cytomorphology. In such cases, histopathological examination may prove to be accurate for diagnosis. This study documents that FNAC of the salivary gland tumours is accurate, simple, rapid and cost-effective for the patient.