Shalija Kotwal1, Deepti Gupta2, Jyotsna Suri3
BACKGROUND
Soft tissues are the nonepithelial extraskeletal connective tissues of the body, excluding supporting tissues of the internal organs, glia and hematopoietic tissues. FNAC of soft tissue swelling is becoming more popular recently because of being minimally invasive technique, relatively cheap cost and safety along with fair specificity and sensitivity.
AIM
To review the role of FNAC in diagnosing soft tissue tumours and to establish cytological criteria for the most encountered STT.
METHODS
This retrospective study was done in Department of Pathology for a period two years. A total of 4508 FNA were performed. 104 aspirations were done from soft tissue swellings. Air dried and wet fixed smears were stained with Giemsa and Papanicolaou stain respectively.
RESULTS
Among 104 STT, 86 (82.3%) were diagnosed as benign lesions while 18 cases (17.3%) were malignant. Benign lesions-17 (16.3%) patients were diagnosed as benign fibrous histiocytoma followed by ganglion cyst in 14(13.5%) cases. 13 cases (12.5%) were diagnosed as haemangioma while 9 cases (8.7%) were categorized as benign spindle cell lesion. 6 cases (5.8%) each of neurofibroma and GCT of tendon sheath were reported. 6 infants (5.8%) were diagnosed as infantile fibromatosis. 5 cases (4.7%) were reported as schwannoma. 3 cases (2.9%) each of proliferative fasciitis and nodular fasciitis were diagnosed. There were 3 cases (2.9%) reported as lymphangioma. One case (1%) was diagnosed as desmoid fibromatosis. Malignant lesions-Among them, 3 cases (2.9%) were reported as MFH. Biphasic synovial sarcoma was diagnosed in 2 patients (1.9%). 2 cases (1.9%) were reported as low grade myxoid sarcoma. 1 case (1%) was diagnosed as MPNST. GIST was diagnosed in 1(1%) patient. One (1%) of the patients presented with swelling in scapular region. This was categorized under malignant round cell tumour category. 8 cases (7.6%) were diagnosed as undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma.
CONCLUSION
With adequate material, FNAC has a definite role in diagnosing soft tissue tumours both benign and malignant in majority of cases with no need for histopathology except in few tumours where overlapping cytological features still remain a big limitation.
