Image-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Pulmonary Lesions at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Patients usually present at an advanced stage, so early diagnosis is important for better prognosis and management. Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the diagnostic procedure of choice in lung lesions for timely diagnosis and better prognosis. Our study aimed to determine the specificity and sensitivity of FNAC in the diagnosis of pulmonary tumors and to assess the morphological features of various lung tumors. A retrospective study was carried out from June 2020 to August 2021 at a tertiary care center in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. A total of 81 cases presenting with clinical and radiological features suggestive of lung malignancies were studied. Image-guided FNAC was done in all cases, and smears were stained using PAP and Giemsa stain. Typing was conducted on cytological evaluation, and histopathological correlation was obtained wherever possible. Immunohistochemistry was performed in a few cases where necessary. Eighty-one cases of ultrasound-guided FNAC of lung lesions were studied. Lung cancers were found to be more common in males, with a male-to-female ratio of 5.75:1, and the mean age at presentation was 55 years. Neoplastic lesions were 86.41%, and non-neoplastic lesions were 7.40%. Squamous cell carcinoma (60.49%) was found to be most common malignancy, followed by adenocarcinoma (11.11%) and small cell carcinoma (8.64%). Diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of FNAC were 100% and 95.65%, respectively. Image-guided FNAC is a safe, rapid, inexpensive, highly sensitive, and specific diagnostic procedure with fewer complications when performed by trained personnel. It helps in the early diagnosis and management of patients with pulmonary lesions leading to a better prognosis