Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Read the article
Visual summary · Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Cytomorphologic Study of Breast Lesions: Spectrum of Lesions and Histopathological Correlation

Abel Tefera, Lemlem Terefe, Kitesa Biresa

The question

What are the cytomorphologic patterns of breast lesions and the diagnostic accuracy of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC)?

  • Breast masses present a diagnostic dilemma in clinical practice, even though most are benign.
  • Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is considered a rapid and economical method to accurately diagnose palpable breast masses.

What was done

1437breast FNAC cases analyzed
3 yearsstudy duration (2019–2022)
212cases with matching histopathology
  • A 3-year retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at the pathology department of Jimma University Medical Centre (JUMC).
  • Data from September 2019 to August 2022 was analyzed using SPSS v26.
  • The risk of malignancy was determined for each International Academy of Cytology (IAC) Yokohama category.

Key findings

Finding 1 of 4
29.9%
malignant lesions in 2021/22

An increasing occurrence of malignant breast lesions was observed, rising from 21.7% in 2019/20 to 29.9% in 2021/22.

Malignant breast lesions share by year
  • 2019/2021.7%
  • 2021/2229.9%
Finding 2 of 4
38%
fibroadenoma in females

The most common benign breast lesion was fibroadenoma in females (38%) and gynecomastia in males (87.2%).

Finding 3 of 4
77.2%
absolute sensitivity of FNAC

FNAC demonstrated an absolute sensitivity of 77.2%, complete sensitivity of 100%, and specificity of 99.1%.

Finding 4 of 4
98.7%
risk of malignancy in category C5

The risk of malignancy was 0% for C2, 30.5% for C3, 54.5% for C4, and 98.7% for C5.

Why it matters

  • Incidence of malignant breast lesions is increasing, with the majority of cases occurring in younger patients.
  • The high sensitivity and specificity of FNAC support its use in low- and middle-income countries where radiological facilities and core needle biopsy are scarce or costly.

How to cite

Abel Tefera, Lemlem Terefe, Kitesa Biresa. Cytomorphologic Study of Breast Lesions: Spectrum of Lesions and Histopathological Correlation. Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. 2024;5(1):1-11. https://doi.org/10.17140/plmoj-5-114

Open the article