Background and Objectives: Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is an accurate, cost effective and safe technique for diagnosing neoplastic lesions of the bone. Objective of the study is to know the utility of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of bone tumors and assess the diagnostic accuracy of this technique. Materials and Methods: FNA of bone was performed in 30cases. Smears prepared were fixed in 95% ethyl alcohol and stained by Hematoxylin and Eosin. 9 smears were considered unsatisifactory as they contained acellular hemorrhagic aspirates. The remaining 21 smears were classified as malignant lesion(12) and benign lesions (9). 15 out of the 21 cases were subjected to histopathological examination. Results:The malignant tumors were giant cell tumor (6), osteogenic sarcoma (1), chondrosarcoma (2) and adamantinoma(1), fibrosarcoma (1) and metastasis (1). The benign tumors were osteochondroma (6), osteoblastoma (2) and enchondroma (1). Histological correlation was obtained in 14 cases of the 15 cases operated and the diagnostic accuracy was 93.3% in this study. A case of chondroblasticosteogenic sarcoma that was reported as chondrosarcoma was the only diagnostic error in the study. Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration of bone is a simple reliable and accurate diagnostic technique that can facilitate patient management and preoperative decision making patient decision making and avoid unnecessary invasive procedures for patients with primary or metastatic bone lesions.

Keywords: Fine Needle Aspiration; Bone Tumors; Osteosarcoma; Adamantinoma.