Cytological and Histopathological Correlation of Benign Epithelial Breast Lesions

Benign epithelial lesions are common causes of breast lumps in females, mostly comprising of fibrocystic change and fibroadenoma. FNAC is a simple technique to diagnose most of these lesions, but many patients subsequently undergo biopsy for confirmation.

Our study aims at identification of benign epithelial breast lesions by FNAC, and to find out the correlation between cytological (FNAC) and histopathological (Biopsy) diagnosis along with the Sensitivity of FNAC in the diagnosis of these lesions.

96 patients who underwent both FNAC and biopsy in government general hospital for benign breast lesions over a two year period were included in the study. The prevalence of different benign lesions was noted, histo-cytological correlation was seen and the sensitivity of FNAC in diagnosing benign epithelial lesions was calculated.

Out of 96 patients, 47 had fibrocystic change (FCC), 46 had fibroadenoma, one had benign breast disease (BBD), one had fibroadenoma with cystic change and one had papilloma by FNAC while 47 had FCC, 45 had fibroadenoma, one had fibroadenoma with cystic change, one had intra ductal papilloma, one had sclerosing adenosis and one had tubular adenoma. Except for one case of tubular adenoma diagnosed by FNAC as fibroadenoma, all other cases showed correlation between FNAC and biopsy, hence the sensitivity is calculated as 98.95%.

FNAC is very sensitive in diagnosing benign epithelial lesions of breast. Its sensitivity reaches 100% for diagnosing fibroadenoma and fibrocystic change of breast. Hence it can be used as a simple screening tool for evaluation of breast lumps and in ruling out malignancy.