Objectives: In this study, we investigated the diagnostic value of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in salivary gland masses retrospectively. We compared FNAC and postoperative histopathologic results of patients who had undergone FNAC and had been operated on because of salivary gland masses.
Patients and methods: Seventy six patients (40 females, 36 males; mean age 50.4 years; range 20 to 80 years) having salivary gland masses who underwent FNAC and surgical treatment between January 2001 and June 2008 were included in the study. Fine needle aspiration cytology and histopathologic results were compared retrospectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy rate of the FNAC in salivary gland masses were evaluated in the light of the results.
Results: The most common benign and malign FNAC results were pleomorphic adenoma (22 patients; 29.7%) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma (4 patients; 5.4%), respectively. Fine needle aspiration cytology results of two patients were non-diagnostic and these patients were excluded. According to the FNAC and histopathologic results of 74 patients, sensitivity was found to be 80.9%, specificity 94.3%, positive predictive value 85% and negative predictive value 92.5% and accuracy rate of FNAC 90.5%.
Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration cytology is a reliable method that has high sensitivity to distinguish between benign and malign salivary gland lesions. In case of suspicious FNAC reports, reliability and diagnostic value of the method is decreased.