Rashmi Rekha Goswami1, Dipankar Baruah2, Gitali Devi3
BACKGROUND
Head and neck lesions are very commonly encountered superficial lump in cytopathology department and swellings in this region rarely go unnoticed. FNAC (fine needle aspiration cytology) is of great value in early diagnosis and differentiation of large number of infective, benign and malignant lesions in head and neck region.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To study the spectrum of various head and neck lesions on the basis of FNAC in a tertiary care hospital.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
This retrospective study was done from outpatient as well as in-patient department with palpable head and neck swellings referred to dept. of pathology, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital, Barpeta, Assam. A total no of 933 cases were selected during a period of April 2011 to April 2015. The FNAC spectrum of various head and neck lesions are studied.
RESULTS
Out of 933 cases, 489 (52.4%) were male and 444 (47.5%) were female. Maximum number of patients were in the age group of 11 to 20 years (19.9%). 869 cases show satisfactory smears. In satisfactory smears of FNAC, involvement of lymph node is most common 53.8%, followed by soft tissue and miscellaneous lesions comprising 22.1%, thyroidal lesions 16.9% and salivary gland lesions 7.1%.
CONCLUSION
Our study found that FNAC can be recommended as a first line of investigation in the diagnosis of head and neck lesions.
