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.