Background: Breast carcinoma is the leading cause of death due to cancer in women. It is difficult to determine whether a lump is benign or malignant from clinical assessment. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a convenient and rapid procedure. Hence the present study was carried out to correlate fine needle aspiration cytology and histopathology of breast lesions. Aims and Objectives: To Correlate between FNAC and histopathology of breast lesions. Material and Methods: The present study is a retrospective study on 92 patients in Department of Pathology, Meenakshi Medical College and Research Institute, Kanchipuram from the period of March, 2014 to March2017. Patients were referred from department of surgery who has presented with breast lesions and pain in the breast. Hematoxylin and eosin slides of the breast cases were taken and FNAC slides were collected for the same patients and then correlation was done. Results: Statistical analysis showed sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of FNAC to be 93.3%, 100%, 100%, and 98.7%, respectively. Conclusion: FNAC is an effective modality for the diagnosis of breast lesions. It is a safe, simple, and cost effective outpatient procedure associated with negligible complications. In the present study it has a high sensitivity and specificity. It helps the clinicians for early diagnosis and specific management thus reducing morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology; Histopathology; Sensitivity; Specificity; Positive Predictive Value and Negative Predictive Value.