Introduction: Head and neck lesions are frequent entities encountered in clinical practice. Fine needle aspiration cytology is a simple, rapid, and cost-effective method to sample superficial masses found in head and neck. Common pathologies encountered in head and neck region are specific and nonspecific lymphadenopathies, salivary gland neoplasms, sialadenitis, and lesions of skin appendages.FNAC enables a useful primary evaluation in these cases. Objectives: The objectives were to study various cytological features of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions of head and neck region and to evaluate the distribution of various lesions among different age groups. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2014 to December 2014. FNA was performed on 300 patients with head and neck masses. Thyroid lesions were excluded from study. Aspirations were performed using 22-25 G needles with syringe, and smears stained using Leishman and H & E stain. Fine needle aspiration diagnosis was correlated with relevant clinical details and investigations. Results: Out of 300 fine needle aspiration procedures, 60% were from lymph nodes, 10% from salivary gland, 14% from benign neoplasms and 14% were cysts. Diagnosis was inconclusive in 2% of the cases. The most common diagnosis was reactive/non-specific lymphadenitis (38%) followed by benign neoplasms and cysts (14%). Metastatic carcinomatous deposits in lymph node were most common type of cancer followed by lymphoma. Conclusion: FNA of head and neck masses is a very useful diagnostic tool in separating inflammatory and neoplastic lesions, thus avoiding unnecessary surgeries. FNAC can be recommended as a first line investigation in the diagnosis of head and neck swellings.

Keywords: FNAC; Head and Neck; Reactive Lymphadenitis; Salivary Gland.