FNAC on palpable neck masses  a hospital based study

Gogoi Geetanjali; Borgohain Diganta

Volume : VI, Issue : IV, April - 2016

FNAC on palpable neck masses a hospital based study

Gogoi Geetanjali, Borgohain Diganta

Abstract :

FNAC of the neck region is a well accepted technique with high specificity. Palpable neck swellings include various non–neoplastic and neoplastic lesions of lymph node, salivary glands, thyroid and soft tissue. The aim of this study is to assess the role of FNAC in determining the cytomorphology of different palpable neck masses in respect to their sites of occurrence, age and sex distribution with histopathological correlation in surgically treated cases. The study included 786 patients presenting with palpable neck swelling in a tertiary care hospital from January 2013 to December 2015. The most frequent cause of neck swelling is lymphadenopathy 63.6%, followed by thyroid swelling 14.8%, soft tissue lesion 14.4% and salivary gland lesions 7.2%. The most common lesion in these patients was non–neoplastic followed by malignant neoplasm. . FNAC on neck mass, though not always specific, helps in avoidance of unnecessary surgeries.