Rapid diagnosis at the outpatient clinic for breast tumors by fine needle aspiration cytology. The utility.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to emphasize the utility and prove the accuracy of rapid diagnosis at the outpatient clinic for breast tumors by fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC]. Rapid diagnosis for breast tumors by FNAC is performed on the same day just after mammography and echonography are carried out at our hospital and the result reported to the patients while they are waiting at the outpatient clinic. We evaluated FNAC by rapid diagnosis at the outpatient clinic for 1,786 breast tumors during the last ten years. The cases of no judgement (Class 0) were 11%, negative cases (Class I & II) 72%, suspicious cases (Class III) 7%, and positive cases (Class IV & V) 10%. We experienced only 4 false negative cases and 0 false positive cases among 1,198 cases during the last 5 years, whereas there were 8 false negative cases and 2 false positive cases among 588 cases during the first 5 years. Two false positive cases in the the first 5 years were judged as Class IV, but definitive surgery [mastectomy] was not performed because rapid diagnosis during the operation by frozen section confirmed no malignancy. As a result, all the cases in which mastectomies were performed up to now were confirmed malignant. We emphasize that rapid diagnosis at the outpatient clinic for breast tumors by FNAC is very useful for early detection and treatment and it is very important to consider the histological type of breast tumors by FNAC to prevent misjudgement.