Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology: A Reliable Tool in the Diagnosis of Salivary Gland Lesions

Salivary gland lesions comprise for about 2-6.5% of all head and neck neoplasms in adults. They are accessible for FNAC (Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology). The risk of fistula formation and/or tumour implantation are low compared to surgical biopsy. FNAC can also provide a distinction between asalivary and non-salivary lesion, benign and malignant lesions. 67 patients were studied prospectively over 5 years. FNAC was performed pre-operatively and histopathological examination post-operatively in patients who underwent surgery and were willing to participate in the study. 59.7% of the lesions were non-neoplastic and 58.2% were neoplastic (37.3% benign and 20.8% malignant). Pleomorphic adenoma was the most common benign neoplasm while mucoepidermoidand adenoid cystic carcinoma both were the most frequent malignant lesion. Among the non-neoplastic lesions, the most number of cases were of chronic sialadentis. In our study, FNAC has a sensitivity of 94.54% specificity of 80.95% for neoplastic lesions. It was seen that FNAC was a useful diagnostic tool in the evaluation of salivary gland lesions because of its simplicity, excellent patient compliance and rapid diagnosis. This cost effective tool is invaluable in planning the surgical management of the patient.