Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This study estimated the merit of employment of Grading Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (GFNAC) in the assessment of breast lumps, compared to conventional Conventional Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (CFNAC). METHODS: Seventy-five women with breast lumps were referred to the surgical unit at Khartoum Teaching Hospital. Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) materials were obtained for cytology and biopsies from the same patients for histopathology. Cytological materials were assessed using two diagnostic systems (GFNAC and CFNAC) without prior knowledge of the histopathologic diagnosis. RESULTS: Of the 75 patients studied, 40 (53.3%) were diagnosed as having breast cancer by Histopathology and the remaining 35 (46.7%) were diagnosed with benign lesions. Of the 40 positive cases, 35 (87.5%) and 28 (70%) were found positive by CFNAC and GFNAC respectively. Of the 35 negative cases, 33 (94.3%) and 35(100%) were found negative by CFAC and GFAC correspondingly. CONCLUSION: The obtained Specificity of 94.3% and 100% in addition to sensitivity of 87.5%, 70% were credited for CFNAC and GFNAC systems respectively. Therefore, it is recommended to merge GFNAC as a supplementary to CFNAC for the diagnosis of breast cancer.