| Summary: | Introduction: Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is one of important diagnostic procedures in evaluation ofmasses of salivary glands which is noteworthy due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. This studyaimed at comparing the results of FNA in masses of salivary glands with results of post-excisionalhistological examinations.Materials and Methods: In an analytic-descriptive setting, 51 patients with masses of salivary glandswere recruited during a 30-months period (April 2005- September 2007) in ear, nose and throat andpathology wards of Tabriz Imam Khomeini Hospital (Iran). Firstly, all the patients evaluated with FNAand then, post-excisional histopathological studies were carried out, considering as the final diagnosis.Results: Fifty one patients, 30 females and 21 males with the mean age of 32.87±16.41 (17-80) yearswere enrolled. Forty six masses located in parotid gland, 4 masses in submandibular gland and a mass insublingual gland. Results of FNA were consistent with definite diagnosis in 42 (82.4%) cases. Thisconsistency was 85.2% and 60% for benign and malignant masses, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity,positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of FNA for diagnosis and discriminationof benign masses from malignant ones were 85.4, 30, 83.3, 33.3 and 74.5 percent, respectively.Conclusion: There is a high consistency between the results of FNA and final histopathologicaldiagnosis in masses of salivary glands. Sensitivity of this procedure is high for diagnosis anddiscrimination of benign masses from malignant ones and the related specificity is low.
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