Abstract

In a six-year period (from May 1988 to April 1994), fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of 322 pulmonary lesions from 296 patients were performed at Soonchunhyang University Hospital. Of these 322, malignancy was diagnosed cytologically in 139 (43.2%), suspicious malignancy in 7 (2.2%), negative in 164 (50.8%), and insufficient material in 12 (3.8%). Malignant lesion consisted of 54 cases of adenocarcinoma, 50 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, 18 cases of small cell carcinoma. They were verified by histologic confirmation in 70 cases. There were 2 (0.6%) false positive cases due to florid bronchoalveolar hyperplasia and atypical bronchial epithelial cells associated with granulomatous lesion. Overall accuracy rate was 90%, the sensitivity 84.3% and the specificity 94.7%.

• Keywords: Fine needle aspiration cytology of pulmonary lesion;False positive rate;Cytopathologic analysis;