Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology is an economically effective technique which is sensitive and specific in diagnosing salivary gland lesions. However histopathology of salivary gland lesions is still the final and gold standard method to establish diagnosis and to predict prognosis.

Method: A prospective observational study of 40 patients with salivary gland lesions was done at Meenakshi medical college and research institute -Kanchipuram from may 2017-july 2018. Of the 40 patients, 31 patients underwent surgery and histopathological correlation was done. Cases only with histopathological correlation were included in calculating diagnostic accuracy .The cytological findings were correlated with histopathological diagnosis to calculate cytology accuracy. The parameters of diagnostic validity of cytological technique in terms of sensitivity, specificity and predictive value were evaluated.

Results: Parotid gland was the most commonly involved salivary gland (72.5%). Neoplastic lesions constituted the major bulk of the lesions (33 cases, 82.5%) with benign tumours constituting 75%. The most commonly involved benignlesions was pleomorphic adenoma (90%). Among the non-neoplastic lesions (17.5%), acute sialadenitis was frequently noted. In the present study, the specificity and the sensitivity were found to be 96.42% and 93.54% respectively. The positive predictive value of salivary gland cytology was 100% and negative predictive value was 81.8%. 

Conclusions: Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology is a safe, reliable, quick, convenient and accurate method of diagnosis and should be considered in first line of investigations of salivary gland lesions.

Keywords: FNAC, salivary gland lesion , neoplastic lesions,histopathology.

1. Mavec P, Eneroth CM, Franzen S, Moberger G, Zajicek J. Aspiration biopsy of salivary gland tumours. Correlation of cytologic reports from 652 aspiration biopsies with clinical and histologic findings. Acta oto-laryngologica. 1964;58 (1-6):47184.
2. Franzen S, Zajicek J. Cytologic diagnosis on aspirates from 1000 salivary gland tumours. Acta Otolaryngol. 1970;224:168-72.
3. Shaha AR, Webber C, DiMaio T, Jaffe BM. Needle aspiration biopsy in salivary gland lesions. Am J Surg. 1990;160:373-6.
4. Orell SR, Kilijanienko J. Head and Neck; Salivary Glands. In : Orell SR, Sterrett GF, eds. Orell and Sterrett's Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology. 5th ed. Edinburg: Churchill Livingstone; 2012:53-77.
5. Speight P, Barret A. Salivary gland tumours. Oral diseases. 2002:8(5):229-40.
6. Orell SR. Head and Neck; Salivary Glands. In: Orel SR, Sterrett GF, Walters MN, Whitaker D, eds. Orell and Sterrett's Manual and Atlas Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology. 3rd ed. Edinburg: Churchill Livingstone; 1999:38-72.
7. Cajulis RS, Gokaslan ST, Yu GH, Frias-Hidvegi D. Fine needle aspiration biopsy of the salivary glands. Acta cytologica. 1997;41(5):1412-20.
8. Tewari M, Shukla HS, Kumar M, Sharma OP. Non neoplastic salivary gland disease with reference to minor salivary gland tuberculosis. Indian J Surg. 2003; 65(2):168-71.
9. Sismanis A, Merriam JM, Kline TS, Davis RK, Shapshay SM, Strong MS. Diagnosis of salivary gland tumours by fine needle aspiration biopsy. Head and Neck Surg. 1981:3(6):482-9.
10. Persson PS, Zettergren L. Cytologic diagnosis of salivary gland tumours by aspiration biopsy. Acta Cytol. 1973;17:351-64.
11. Lindberg LG, Ackerman M. Aspiration cytology of salivary gland tumours. Diagnostic experience from 6 years of routine laboratory work. Laryngoscope. 1976;86:584-94.
12. Frable MA, Frable WJ. Fine‐Needle aspiration biopsy revisited. Laryngoscope. 1982;92(12):14148.
13. Contucci AM, Corina L, Sergi B, Fadda G, Paludetti G. Correlation between fine needle aspiration biopsy and histologic findings in parotid masses. Personal experience. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital. 2003;23(4):314-8.
14. Bhatia A. Fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of mass lesions of the salivary glands, Indian J Cancer. 1993;30(1):26-30.
15. Choudhury AA, Sultana T, Siddique BH, Amin AS. Diagnosis of parotid gland mass by the Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and it’s histopathological correlation-2 Years Study in BSMMU, Dhaka. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Med Univ J. 2011;4(2):65-9.
16. Shishegar M, Ashraf MJ, Azarpira N, Khademi B, Hashemi B, Ashrafi A. Salivary gland tumour in maxillofacial region- a retrospective study of 130 cases in a southern Irian population. Pathol Res Int. 2011.
17. Lingen MW, Kumar V. Head and Neck. In :Kumar V, Abbas AK, Nelson F, eds. Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Elsivier Saunders; 2004:790-795.
18. O'Dwyer P, Farrar WB, James AG, Finkelmeier W, McCabe DP. Needle aspiration biopsy of major salivary gland tumors, its value. Cancer. 1986;57(3):554-7.

Suresh R

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.