Grading of breast cancer by fine needle aspiration cytology correlating with histopathologic grading in women of age group 30 (thirty) to 65 (sixty five) years

Breast cancer is a malignant disease of the breast. There are various investigative tools for its diagnosis. As fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is an important investigation for the diagnosis of breast cancer, grading the malignant tumours cytologically can aid in the pre-operative evaluation of the tumour behaviour. The aim of the study was to diagnose breast tumours and grade the malignant tumours on cytological smears by FNAC technique and correlating the findings with histopathology on excised tissue sections. The present study was carried out in Gauhati Medical College & Hospital; Guwahati, Assam, India during the period from May 2011 to April 2012. Female patients presenting with breast lumps were selected for the study. FNAC materials were aspirated by using 10ml syringe with attached 22–23 gauze needle. Smears were stained by Papanicolaou (Pap) and May Grunwald Giemsa (MGG) stains. For histopathology, Hematoxylene and Eosin (H &E) stains were used. The age of the patients with malignant tumours were predominantly found below 50 years of age and most of them were infiltrating duct carcinoma with high grade features. The results showed a significant correlation between the cytologic and histopathologic grading of the malignant tumours with a concordance rate of 85.3%. Therefore, FNAC was found to be quite useful and reliable in grading malignant tumours of the breast and can be used as an important tool for the pre-operative evaluation of the tumour behaviour.