Abstract
Context: Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is increasing in popularity as a means of diagnosing
mass lesions in retroperitoneal area. With use of radiologic guidance for needle placement,
this technique is an effective way to obtain diagnostic material. Aims: The aims of the study were (1) to establish the validity and reliability of fine
needle aspiration cytology in preoperative diagnosis of retroperitoneal tumor, and
(2) to compare the significance of cytological diagnosis with histopathological report.
Settings and Design: A prospective, cross-sectional hospital-based study. Materials and Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was designed on 45 cases of clinically and radiologically
diagnosed retroperitoneal tumor in a tertiary care hospital. Computerized tomography
(CT)-guided percutaneous FNA was performed and cytology smears were stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa
stain and conventional Papanicolaou (Pap) stain. Smears were broadly categorized into
unsatisfactory, benign, suspicious of malignancy and malignant lesion. The cytological
diagnosis was compared with subsequent histopathology report. Statistical Analysis: Positive and negative predictive values, diagnostic accuracy, chi-square test and
others. Results: The total number of cases studied was 45, which include both epithelial tumors and
mesenchymal tumors. Age group varied from 15 to 70 years. The overall sensitivity
in our study to diagnose benign and malignant tumors by FNA cytology is 86% and the
specificity is 96% with positive and negative predictive value of 86% and 96%, respectively.
Diagnostic accuracy was 93.55% with high statistical significance (P < 0.001). Conclusions: FNA cytology is a simple, fast, reliable and less expensive method for diagnosis
of various retroperitoneal neoplasms.
Keywords
Computed tomography - fine needle aspiration cytology - histopathology - May-Grόnwald-Giemsa
stain - retroperitoneal mass