AbstractBackground: Ultrasonography (USG) guided Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) is an established, safe, reliable and accurate procedure for cytological diagnosis of various retroperitoneal lesions. Aims & Objectives: To study the sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of USG guided FNAC in retroperitoneal lesions. Materials & Methods: USG guided Fine Needle Aspirations (FNA) were performed in 54 patients with various retroperitoneal lesions during May 2009 to December 2011. Their cytological diagnosis was compared to Histopathological (HP) diagnosis. True and false (positive and negative) data was analyzed to measure sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of USG guided FNAC. Results: Adequate material was aspirated in all 54 cases (Sample adequacy rate 100%). Maximum cases were from Kidney (21) followed by Lymphnode (13), Soft tissue (9), Adrenal (5), Pancreas (4) and Germ cell tumors (2). FNAC was diagnostic in all 54 cases. Among which, 36 cases (66.7%) were malignant and 18 cases (33.3%) were benign. HP correlation was available in 35 (64.8%) cases. HP diagnosis was different from FNAC diagnosis in only 2 (5.7%) cases. Diagnostic Accuracy, Sensitivity and Specificity of USG guided FNAC in retroperitoneal lesions were 94.3%, 92.6% and 100% respectively. Conclusion: Having high sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy, USG guided FNAC is an OPD based safe, reliable and accurate diagnostic procedure for various retroperitoneal lesions. It doesn’t only provide a preoperative diagnosis to aid in surgical management of resectable tumors, but also helps in avoiding a purely diagnostic laparotomy in cases of advanced cancer or benign lesions.
Keywords: USG Guided; FNAC; Retroperitoneal; Sensitivity; Specificity; Accuracy