Spectrum of soft tissue lesions in upper and lower extremities on fine needle aspiration cytology: A three years’ experience from Western Indian population

Abstract

Soft tissue lesions have a wide spectrum which includes non- neoplastic, benign & malignant lesions. FNAC act as preliminary diagnostic tool providing a predictive diagnosis of a benign or malignant soft tissue neoplasm and thus helps for further intervention. This study discusses the spectrum of FNAC of soft tissue lesions in upper and lower limbs.All cytology smears of soft tissue lesions from both upper and lower limbs were included over a period of three years at tertiary care hospital. The most common age group was 31 to 40 years with male to female ratio being 1.3:1. The spectrum included broadly neoplastic (65.7%) & non-neoplastic (34.3%) cases. The neoplasms were further divided as benign (42.8 %), malignant (18.6%) and suspicious for neoplasm (4.3%) whereas (34.3 %) were non-neoplastic lesions. The most common lesion was giant cell tumor (GCT) of tendon sheath. The most common site was hand (24%) followed by feet (22.5%). FNAC of soft tissue lesions is useful for differentiating various lesions and neoplasms in extremities so as to help patients in further management.