Accuracy of fine‐needle aspiration cytology of salivary gland lesions in the netherlands cancer institute

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the accuracy of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in salivary gland lesions in a tertiary referral center. METHODS: A cytohistologic correlation study was performed using an automated pathology database of 1023 patients diagnosed with a salivary gland lesion. RESULTS: In 388 cases, both cytology and histology were available. Using cytologic confirmation of malignancy as the starting point, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of FNAC in this study were 88%, 99%, and 96%, respectively. Exact type-specific concordance of the malignant diagnosis was achieved in 66 (88%) of 75 cases and in 211 (95%) of 223 benign cases. Of the 19 cases with a cytologic diagnosis "cyst," four proved to be malignant. A non-neoplastic lesion at cytology proved to be correctly classified in 53 (68%) of 80 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that cytology is a reliable and accurate technique to assess lesions of the salivary glands. The cytologic diagnosis of "cysts" and "non-neoplastic lesions" should be interpreted with caution.