Efficacy of FNAC in early diagnosis of prostatic carcinoma

Background: Prostatic carcinoma is one of the most important causes of mortality in elderly men mainly because of the late detection despite of the fact that it is a potentially curable disease. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is an easy to perform outpatient procedure requiring no expensive equipment or anesthesia. Objectives: The present study was carried out in an attempt to evaluate the fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of carcinoma prostate. Materials and methods: The present study was performed on 27 patients admitted in the surgical wards, with complaints suggestive of prostatic disease, in whom there was found to be a suspicion of malignancy of the prostate gland. Results: Among 27 patients, 14 patients were diagnosed as prostatic malignancy on per rectal FNAC whereas, 19 patients were confirmed with prostatic cancer histologically. Out of 19 histologically confirmed cancer cases, 16 were also positive on FNAC i.e. 84.21% accuracy of FNAC in detecting prostatic malignancy. Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration cytology is easily available and inexpensive procedure. It is a reliable method in the diagnosis of prostatic cancer. Its positive results are relatively more reliable than the negative ones. It is an effective method in follow up of the cancer cases.