ABSTRACT

Objective: To examine the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC for diagnosing malignant parotid lesions taking histopathology as a gold standard.

Study Design: Cross-sectional/Observational study

Place and Duration of Study: Shahida Islam Teaching Hospital Lodhran from 1st April 2017 to 30th June 2018.

Methodology: Eighty patients of both genders with ages 10 to 65 years clinically diagnosed to have parotid carcinoma were included. Patient’s detailed demographics were recorded after taking informed written consent. Fine needle aspiration cytology was performed to all the patients and compares the findings with histopathological examination. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and diagnostic accuracy of FNAC were examined.

Results: Fifty one (63.75%) were males while 29 (36.25%) were females with mean age 39.14±12.85 years. Eighteen (22.5%) patients had malignant and 62 (77.5%) had benign parotid lesion by FNAC and by histopathological examination 20 (25%) patients had malignant and 60 (75%) had benign lesions. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound compare to FNAC were 80%, 96.67%, 88.89%, 93.55% and 92.50% respectively..

Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration cytology plays an important role for diagnosing parotid carcinoma with high diagnostic accuracy rate. It is very helpful tool for making decision for the management of parotid carcinoma.

Keywords: Parotid carcinoma, Fine needle aspiration cytology, Histopathology