Fine-needle aspiration cytology of salivary gland lesions

Background: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a sensitive, specific, cost-effective tool and has been widely used as a diagnostic tool for the management of various head-and-neck lesions. Salivary gland lesions constitute the most common head-and-neck lesions. These lesions can range from inflammatory to neoplastic, which can be either benign or malignant. Materials and Methods: The study was performed on 104 patients who presented with salivary gland swelling to the department of pathology at a tertiary care center from January 2016 to June 2020. FNAC was performed using a 22-24G needle, and smears were stained with Giemsa, hematoxylin and eosin and Papanicolaou stain. Histopathology was assessed on routine hematoxylin- and eosin-stained paraffin sections. The cytological and histopathological slides were studied, analyzed and correlated. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive were calculated. Results: The study included 104 cases in the age range of 10-70 years and a mean of 45 years (±16 standard deviation). There was a male preponderance with a male-to-female ratio of 1.6:1. The parotid gland was the most common site 91 (87%). On cytology, 71 (68%) were neoplastic, of which 58 (81%) were benign and 13 (19%) were malignant. Histopathological correlation was available in 36 cases (50%), 24 (67%) of which were benign and the remaining 12 (33%) were malignant. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the present study are 95%, 85%, 91% and 92%, respectively. Conclusion: FNAC of the salivary gland is a safe, reliable and cost-effective technique which can be used as the first line of investigation in evaluating salivary gland lesions.