Role of image guided fine needle aspiration cytology in diagnosis of hepatic lesions-study at a tertiary care centre of Kashmir valley

Abstract

Background and aim: Liver diseases are common causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Image guided fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC) is a rapid and reliable method for diagnosis of hepatic mass lesions. It provides a predictive diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions and in most of them provides the tumor type. Ours is a prospective study of three years. Material and methods: A three year prospective study of image guided FNAC of lesions of liver was done from May 2014 to April 2017. The study included total 130 cases which were selected irrespective of age and sex. USG or CT guided FNAC was done using 18-22 gauge needle. Air dried and alcohol fixed smears were stained with May-Grünwald Giemsa(MGG)and hematoxylin and eosin(H&E)stain respectively. Results: The diagnostic yield was 92.8%. Out of the 130 cases 84.6% were malignant and 15.3% were benign. Metastatic malignany was the most common diagnosis seen in 80.2% of the patients adenocarcinoma(73.1%),neuroendocrine carcinoma(9.2%), squamous cell carcinoma(10.7%) and pleomorphic sarcoma (2.1%). Metastasis of malignant melanoma, medullary carcinoma thyroid and non hodgkins lymphoma was seen in one patient (.1.07%) each. Cytological diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma was made in 15 patients (13.6%). Conclusion: Image guided FNAC is a quick, minimally invasive and economically effective procedure which helps in accurately diagnosing liver lesions without major complications.