AbstractBackground and Objectives: The evaluation and management of various hepatic lesions is a common clinical problem and their appropriate management depends on accurate diagnosis. Aim of the study is to study the cytomorphological features of various neoplastic lesions of liver and role of ultrasonography guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of liver malignancies. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients with evidence of liver disease underwent USG guided percutaneous FNAC . Cytomorphologicaldiagnosis were correlated with clinical, biochemical and radiological findings. Results: The age of the patients ranged from 6yrs to 75yrs with 40% males and 60% females. Of the 50 patients the cytological diagnosis of malignancies were rendered in 40 patients and smears of the 10 patients were benign, inflammatory and hemorrhagic. The primary liver lesions were more common than the metastatic lesions. The commonest primary liver malignancy was hepatocellular carcinoma followed by cholangiocarcinoma and hepatoblastoma. The metastatic lesion predominantly was adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: USG guided FNAC of the liver is a safe, simple, cost effective and accurate method for cytological diagnosis of hepatic malignancies.
Keywords: Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Cholangiocarcinoma; Metastatic Adenocarcinoma.