The Role of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in the Diagnosis of Lesions of the Head and Neck excluding the Thyroid and Salivary Glands

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was performed in 273 cases with suspicious masses of the head and neck, excluding the thyroid and salivary gland, at the A.C. Camargo Hospital from 1983 to 1989. The most frequently punctured site was the lymph nodes (n = 178), and the most common histologic diagnosis of malignancy was squamous cell carcinoma (n = 43). FNAC results were: 105 positive, 6 suspicious, 135 negative, and 27 unsatisfactory cases. There was a correlation between cytology and histology in 217 cases, with 102 true-positive, 76 true-negative, 1 false-positive, and 7 false-negative cases. Suspicious and unsatisfactory cases were not considered for this index. Analysis of the results showed an efficiency of 95.6%, sensitivity of 93.5%, and specificity of 98.7 %. Positive and negative predictive values were respectively 99.0 % and 91.5 %.