VALUE OF FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION BIOPSY IN PREOPERATIVE DIAGNOSIS OF PALPABLE BREAST LUMPS IN RESOURCE-POOR COUNTRIES: A NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

Background: Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) has been established as a quick simple and accurate means of diagnosing breast lesions and offers a financially attractive alternative to open surgical biopsy. This study was undertaken to assess the value of FNAB in the evaluation of breast lumps at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, a major referral center in Kano, Northern Nigeria over a 2-year period (2001-2002). Methods: A retrospective evaluation of 157 patients who had FNAB, of which 93 had histological confirmation. Results: Of the 61 histologically confirmed benign lesions, 57 had been interpreted as benign cytologically, while 1 and 3 cases respectively were reported as atypical and unsatisfactory. There were 32 histologically confirmed malignant cases, 27 of which had been reported as malignant on FNAB, 2 as suspicious and 3 as benign. The positive predictive value was 100% with a sensitivity of 90.6% and specificity of 100%. Conclusion: The high diagnostic accuracy obtained in this study warrants FNAB to be utilized as a first line diagnostic procedure in the evaluation of patients with palpable breast lesions in developing countries.