Comparision of Efficacy of FNAC with Histopathological Examination of Parotid Swellings

Introduction : Parotid gland swellings are of histologically diverse group. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a rapid, simple, cost effective diagnostic procedure for evaluation of such swellings. The main aim of the study is to determine specificity, sensitivity, accuracy of FNAC in parotid swellings by taking histopathological examination (HPE) as gold standard. Materials and methods: Retrospective study done from April 2018 – July 2018. Data was collected from medical records of 50 cases who came with parotid swellings. All have undergone preoperative FNAC for swellings followed by surgery and HPE of specimen postoperatively. Results: In FNAC most of parotid swellings were benign in nature with pleomorphic adenoma most common. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of FNAC for parotid swellings in our study are 62.5%; 94%; 84% respectively. Conclusion: Even though FNAC is rapid, simple, it is may not be completely reliable deciding factor for patient counselling and for further management according to present study as it shows less sensitivity of 62.5%.The FNAC may be considered as a best possible initial investigation but may not be as to provide a definitive diagnosis on which management decisions can be made.