Fine needle aspiration cytology of breast lumps with histopathologic correlation in Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria: a five-year review.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the histopathologic correlation of fine needle aspiration cytology FNAC of breast masses seen in the department of histopathology of the Federal Medical Center Owo, Southwestern Nigeria.

DESIGN: This is a 5-year retrospective study of breast lumps seen at Department of Histopathology, Federal Medical Centre Owo, a tertiary health care facility in Southwestern Nigeria between January 1 2010 and December 31 2014.

PARTICIPANTS: All patients who had Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Breast lumps with subsequent histological confirmation over this period were included in the study.

RESULTS: In the five years under review (2010-2014), a total of 289 FNAC of breast lumps were done. The aspirates were obtained from 275 (95.2%) females and 14 (4.8%) males. There were 161 cases of FNAC with corresponding tissue for histological correlation giving a biopsy rate of 55.7%. The sensitivity of FNAC in determining the final histologic diagnosis was found to be 99.4% while the specificity was 100%. FNAC was able to determine final histologic diagnosis conclusively in 86.3% of cases.

CONCLUSION: We therefore concluded that FNAC is a reliable diagnostic tool of breast lumps in our centre. Being a fast and cheap diagnostic tool as highlighted by previous studies, we advocate that clinicians should continue to embrace this diagnostic technique in the surgical management of breast lumps.

FUNDING: This study was entirely funded by the authors.