Spectrum of Bone Lesions Diagnosed on Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the spectrum and morphological features of various bone
pathologies as observed on fine needle aspiration cytology.
Study Design: It was a descriptive study.
Setting: Pathology Department of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad.
Duration: The study was carried out from 01.04.04 to 31.03.05.
Subjects: The total number of cases was 50, selected through convenience non-probability sampling.
Methods: The data was entered in the proforma. A criterion was set for examining each slide, which included cellularity
of the smear, pattern (if any), cell type, cellular atypia, background and salient microscopic features. Cellularity was
graded as 0, +, ++, +++. Patterns included discohesive cells, clusters and sheets, mixed and others. Cells were typed as
mesenchymal, epithelial, inflammatory, fibrohistiocytic, neuroectodermal and others. Atypia graded as nil, mild, moderate
and marked while the background was labeled as clear, amorphous, chondromyxoid and hemorrhagic. Cytomorphologically,
7 groups of bone pathologies were identified. All the data was analyzed using computer software SPSS version 10 and
descriptive statistics applied.
Results: There were 66% males and 34% females in our study. The most frequent age group was between 0-10 years. The
most frequent group of bone pathologies in our study was inflammatory (32%), followed by fibrohistiocytic and synovial
group (22%), primary malignant osseous tumors (18%), metastatic (12%), plasma cell dyscrasias (8%), primary benign
tumors of bone (6%), and miscellaneous group (2%).
Conclusion: Our study of 50 cases of pathological osseous lesions carried out in Pathology Department of Pakistan
Institute of Medical Sciences proves that FNAC is very useful diagnostic technique which can easily replace the need
for biopsy