Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology Findings of Breast Lesions in Female Patients Presenting with Palpable Breast Lumpsat Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala-Uganda

Background: Palpable breast lumps are a common manifestation encountered by physicians during clinical practice. The use of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) method has proven to be quick, simple and cost-effective in the evaluation of these lumps for benign, atypical and malignant changes. This study aims to determine the type of breast lesions diagnosed by FNAC and to determine the age-wise distribution for such lesions. Methodology: A prospective study consisting of 291 females presenting with palpable breast lesions was carried out at Makerere College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) pathology laboratory from January 2019 to May 2019. FNAC results were grouped into tier five reporting categories as C1, C2, C3, C4 & C5 in accordance to the International Academy of Cytology (IAC). Results: Out of the 291 cases examined, 14 (4.8%) were insufficient (C1), 192 (66%) were benign (C2), 9 (3.0%) were atypical (C3), 15 (5.2%) were suspicious of malignancy (C4) & 61 (21%) were malignant (C5). In the benign category, lesions of fibroadenoma were the most commonly diagnosed constituting 110/192 (57.3%) whereas under the malignant category lesions of invasive ductal carcinoma were the most commonly diagnosed constituting 27/61(44.3%). The peak age group for benign lesions was 21-30 years whereas the peak age group for malignant lesions was 41-50 years. Conclusion: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was found to be an effective diagnostic tool in the categorization of palpable breast lumps into benign, malignant, atypical, suspicious and inadequate categories.