Diagnostic Value of Fine Needle Aspiration in Salivary Gland Tumors Compared with the Histopathological Results after Mass Excision

Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) is a relatively painless, safe and inexpensive diagnostic method, which is a widely accepted for the diagnosis of salivary glands neoplastic and inflammatory lesions before surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of FNA in the diagnosis of salivary gland tumors nature compared with the histopathological results after mass excision. This is a cross-sectional study, where since April 2009 to March 2012, all patients complaining about salivary gland tumors referred to the ear, nose and throat ward of Ahvaz Imam Khomeini hospital and undergone FNA and biopsy have been studied. Then, the results of FNA were compared with pathology results after mass excision, as well as the diagnostic accuracy of FNA was calculated. In this study, 160 patients were studied including 88 females (55%) and 72 males (45%). Most patients were in the age group of 31-40 years and lowest in patients aged over 80 years. The mean age of patients was 41.7±18.9 with a minimum 3 years and the maximum was 85 years old. The FNA sensitivity in salivary gland tumor to pathological findings after mass excision was calculated 92.3% and its characteristics 99%. The positive predictive value was 96% and negative predicted value 97.9%. As shown in this study, FNA sensitivity has a high specificity and diagnostic value in the detection of the salivary gland lesions. Given that it is an inexpensive, safe and reliable method, it is recommended to be used more widely.