Image Guided Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology Of Thoracic Mass Lesions.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Image-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of intrathoracic lesions is commonly performed in many institutions equipped with standard imaging modalities and cytopathology services.The primary goals include understanding the pathological range of thoracic lesions and establishing correlations between radiological observations and cytological findings obtained through image-guided FNAC.METHODS: The current investigation took place at the Post Graduate Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Jammu, spanning a five-year duration from November 1st, 2016, to October 31st, 2021. RESULTS:The study included 90 patients presenting with thoracic mass lesions.Majority of the patients were between 61-70 years of age group and the study showed predominance of male patients (71.11%).Among 90 cases, 5 cases (5.55%) were benign and 66 cases (73.33%) were malignant.Most common lesion encountered among malignant cases was Squamous cell carcinoma and least common was NHL/Acute Leukemia.Cytological diagnosis of 34 cases was compared with histological diagnosis.Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy was found to be 88%, 94.64%, 90%, 94.64% and 92.22% respectively.The overall concordance on cytology and histology was 92.22%. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION:This study suggests employing image-guided FNAC as the primary diagnostic approach in cases where carcinoma is highly suspected.When conducted under ultrasound or CT guidance by our skilled practitioners, this technique exhibits notable sensitivity in detecting malignancies.Moreover, it is well-tolerated, minimally invasive, and poses minimal risk of complications.