Lee, Seung-Sook;Park, In-Ae;Ham, Eui-Keun;Lee, Sang-Kook
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Fine needle aspiration cytology has become a frequently used technique for the diagnosis of lesions in the head and neck. Fine needle aspiration cytology of the salivary glands were performed on 66 patients. In 59 patients with satisfactory samples, cytologic diagnoses were as follows; there were 47 benign lesions, including pleomorphic adenoma(20), Warthin's tumor(3), benign cystic lesion(4), Inflammatory lesion(4), lymphoid lesion(3), myoepithelioma(1), unspecified benign neoplasm (5), and unclassified benign lesion(7). There were 6 cases of undetermined malignancy and 6 malignant lesions including mucoepidermoid carcinoma(3), adenoid cystic carcinoma(1), carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma(1), and metastatic carcinoma(1) in cytologic diagnosis. In 25 patients, the cytologic diagnosis was correlated with histologic findings. The sensitivity of the benign lesion was 96% and the specificity was 82%. There was no false-positive diagnosis. The sensitivity and the specificity of pleomorphic adenoma were 75% and 95%, respectively. Some of Warthin's tumors were confused with benign cystic lesion due to frequent cystic change of the tumor. The sensitivity and specificity of the malignant lesions were 56% and 88%, respectively. There were three false negative diagnoses. Two mucoepidermoid carcinomas were correctly diagnosed by cytology. Two of three adenoid cystic carcinomas were misdiagnosed as benign tumors.