A SIMPLE EXAM TO SCREEN SUPERFICIAL MASSES - FINE-NEEDLE ASPIRATION CYTOLOGY

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is now considered a useful tool in the evaluation of adult patients with mass lesions. We reviewed th e experience with FNAC in our Paediatric Surgical Department. One hund red and eleven FNACs were performed in children with a superficial mas s and no definite diagnosis. All the exams were done by the same physi cian using a fine needle and no anesthesia. We routinely used May-Grun wald-Giemsa and Papanicolaou staining. Patients age ranged from 20 day s to 17 years, with a mean age of 6.5 years. A clinically benign patho logy was cytologically confirmed in 90 cases (81%). All children did w ell at follow-up. Malignancy was diagnosed in eight cases (7.2%) and i n all was confirmed with a surgical biopsy. In nine children (8.1%) th e specimen was considered insufficient for definite diagnosis. In four cases (3.6%) the pathologist diagnosed a possible malignancy that was excluded at surgical biopsy. The sensitivity was 100% and the specifi city was 96%. Our experience confirms that FNAC is a fast, cheap, simp le, and accurate diagnostic method and should be used for screening in all children with doubtful superficial masses. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, I nc.