The role of peroral fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of parapharyngeal lesions--a study of 51 cases.

The utility of peroral fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in diagnosis of 51 parapharyngeal lesions was studied from January, 1986 till May, 1991. The age of the patients ranged from 6 years to 85 years. Analysis of results showed 9 inflammatory lesions, 22 benign tumours and 20 malignant tumours. Correlation with histopathology showed diagnostic accuracy of 90.2% with no false positive report. Review of FNAC of head and neck lesions showed hardly any publication on aspiration cytology of parapharyngeal masses.