Diseases of breast often present as palpable mass in the breast. Women have a tendency to hide the breast masses due to social stigma. In addition, evaluation of breast lumps in resource-limited settings can be challenging. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a simple, time saving, minimally invasive and fairly accurate method for diagnosis of breast lesions.  The aim of this study was to study the cytological features of various breast lesions. and to evaluate the role of FNAC in the diagnosis of breast lesions. The present study was conducted during the period from January 2011 to August 2015. A total of 526 breast cytology cases were studied and correlated with histopathology whenever possible.

The Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology reporting was divided into five reporting categories according to National Health Service Breast Screening Programme 2001. The most common breast lesions belonged to C2 (Benign) category comprising of 318 cases (60.46%) followed by C5 (Malignant) category comprising of 137 cases (26.05 %). Fifteen cases belonged to the category of C3-atypia probably benign and 17 cases to C4 category- suspicious of malignancy. Thirty nine cases were inadequate for opinion. (C1 category) Histopathology was available for 169 cases. Thus, FNAC is simple, quick, cost effective, highly sensitive and specific method in the evaluation of the breast lesions.

Keywords- FNAC, Breast, Cytology, Carcinoma breast.

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Dr Bhakti Dattatraya Deshmukh

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College,

Pandharpur Road, Miraj 416410 Maharashtra. India.

Mobile no. +919975186373 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.