Clinicopathological correlation of non-neoplastic nodular skin lesions: Experience from a tertiary care institute

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy and diagnostic accuracy of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in nonneoplastic nodular skin lesions.
Materials and Methods: Nonneoplastic nodular skin lesions were assessed by FNAC and slide stained by Giemsa staining followed by biopsy in all cases. Histopathological slides were stained by haematoxylin and eosin stain and the special stain was used wherever required. Efficacy and accuracy were determined using histopathology as a gold standard.
Results: Thirty-five cases with nodular skin lesions were subjected to cytological examination followed by biopsy. The most common infectious nodule was granulomatous dermatitis (20%) followed by cutaneous leishmaniasis (17.14%). The most commonly encountered noninfectious nonneoplastic nodular lesion was epithelial cyst (83.33%) followed by ganglion (16.67%). FNAC had a sensitivity of 80%, the specificity of 100% and diagnostic accuracy of 93.8% in diagnosing nonneoplastic skin nodules.
Conclusion: Cytology FNAC is safe, cost-effective and patient complaint procedure for the evaluation of nonneoplastic nodular skin lesions and can be performed in the outpatient clinic.