The role of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of breast lesions

MWM Suen, MKM Chan
Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong

Fine needle aspiration of breast lesions is widely practised as a simple, non-invasive procedure in hospital and private practice settings. Although the procedure is liable to sampling error--especially when the lesion is very small and non-palpable and variations may occur during the interpretation by different cytopathologists--it is a useful and important means of providing pre-operative diagnosis for women with abnormalities of the breast detected either by palpation or by imaging. We review the current status of this procedure and experience at our hospital.

Hong Kong Med J 1996;2:62-7

Key words: Biopsy; Cytodiagnosis; Breast neoplasms