Do immediate cytology and specialist radiologists improve the adequacy of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology?

OBJECTIVE

To assess whether a dedicated "1-stop" neck lump clinic has improved the percentage of adequate fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) samples and reduced the need for repeat FNAC.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective review.

SETTING

District General Hospital in the United Kingdom.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Patients attending for ultrasound-guided FNAC over a 6-month period from August 2012 to February 2013. Patients were placed in 4 groups: group 1, FNAC performed by any of the subspecialist radiologists with cytology support (n = 100); group 2, FNAC performed by general radiologists without cytology support (n = 112); group 3, FNAC performed by a particular subspecialist radiologist with cytology support (n = 61); and group 4, FNAC performed by the same subspecialist radiologist without cytology support (n = 125).

RESULTS

There was a significantly higher rate of adequacy of FNAC in the presence of a subspecialist radiologist with immediate cytology (group 1) versus a general radiologist without cytology support (group 2; 87/100 vs 63/112, P = .0001), a significantly higher rate of adequacy of FNAC in the presence of cytology support with the same radiologist (group 3 vs group 4, 55/61 vs 97/125, P = .04), and a significantly higher rate of adequacy of FNAC in the presence of a subspecialist radiologist versus a general radiologist without cytology support (group 4 vs group 2, 97/125 vs 63/112, P = .0005).

CONCLUSION

Immediate cytology and the presence of a subspecialist radiologist increase the adequacy of FNAC. The adequacy rate of non-cytology-supported FNAC or nonsubspecialist FNAC is below the adequate rate expected from the literature or as recommended in national guidelines.