Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsies of Ovarian Masses: A Reliable Technique

OBJECTIVE

In gynecology, fine-needle aspiration (FNA) has an overall accuracy of 94.5% in differentiation between benign and malignant tumors. The purpose of this study was to determine reliable cytological criteria for categorizing ovarian masses into benign and malignant categories, their subtypes, and also to evaluate FNA accuracy in the diagnosis of ovarian tumors in relation to histopathological findings.

STUDY DESIGN

A prospective study was performed on all patients with a preoperative diagnosis of ovarian tumor who were referred to our hospital between August 2013 and August 2015. During surgery, FNA was performed using an 18-gauge needle by a pathologist. Aspirated material was spread on clean glass slides and stained with Papanicolaou and Wright-Giemsa stains. The cytological findings and results were compared with the histological diagnosis.

RESULTS

Of the 81 cases in this study, there was a discrepancy between the cytological and histological diagnosis in 9 cases. The overall cytological diagnostic accuracy in our study was 88.9% with a sensitivity and specificity of 78.1 and 95.5%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

FNA of an ovarian mass is a minimally invasive procedure with acceptable diagnostic accuracy, especially when differentiating between benign and malignant lesions, and can be considered as a useful diagnostic modality for choosing an appropriate management course.