Mohammad Akhtar
BACKGROUND Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) has become an invaluable tool in the preoperative evaluation of the breast lumps and is a part of initial screening by triple assessment approach. Its main purpose is to differentiate benign lesions from malignant lesions. However inflammatory lesions of the breast are relatively uncommon benign breast lesions and can be of an abnormal finding on imaging. These lesions form palpable lumps and simulate a malignant process, both clinically and radiologically. Core biopsies may not help in the diagnosis of inflammatory lesions and are not necessary in most of these cases. Here, the present study aims to highlight the importance of FNAC in the diagnosis of inflammatory lesions of the breast. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was a prospective study conducted in Government General Hospital, Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada, for a period of one year from July 2017 to June 2018. A total number of 591 female patients with palpable breast lumps were subjected to FNAC. Ten cases out of 591 were showed clinical and radiological discrepancies. Aspirated smears were studied microscopically, and final diagnosis was made after assessment by two pathologists. All ten cases were followed up for six months to assess the response to therapy. RESULTS Ten cases of uncommon inflammatory breast lesions out of 591 breast cases were included in the present study. All patients were females belonging to the age group between 28-55 years. Of these nine cases, 05 cases were of Tuberculosis, 2 cases of Filariasis, 2 cases of sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy and 1 case of implant-related granulomatous inflammation. CONCLUSION Careful screening of fine needle aspiration cytology smears is helpful in diagnosing inflammatory breast lesions with specific etiology especially tuberculosis and microfilaria. Diagnosis of such cases allows swift and specific medical therapy where possible and prevents subsequent complications of the disease thereby avoiding unnecessary surgical intervention. The utility of FNAC initially started to diagnose malignant lesions got extended to the preoperative evaluation of both benign and malignant lesions.
