Role of FNAC in evaluation and diagnosis of head and neck lesions: A retrospective study at tertiary care center

Abstract

Background: FNAC is very simple, quick, cost effective and minimally invasive technique used to diagnose different type of swelling occur in lymph node, thyroid gland, soft tissue and salivary gland in head and neck region. Aim and Objective: To evaluate role and utility of FNAC in diagnosis of palpable head and neck lesionsMethods: Our study has included 260 patients presented with palpable swelling in head and neck region at our hospital from January 2017 to January 2019. FNAC procedure has been and smears are stained with H & E stain and pap stain. Cyto histopathological correlation were done wherever possible. Results: Out of 260 cases, Lymph node (57.69%) is most common site of aspiration where TB lymphadenitis (53.33%) was most common diagnosed lesion. Thyroid gland lesions constitute 64 cases (24.61%) followed by salivary gland lesions 26 cases (10%), soft tissue lesions 16 cases (6.15%). FNAC was inconclusive in 7 cases (2.69%).Conclusion: FNAC serves as a guide to appropriate therapeutic management whether to locally excise a benign tumor or plan radical surgery and helps as an adjunct to histopathology.