COMPARISON OF CYTOLOGICAL AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL VALIDATION ON FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION OF SUPERFICIAL MASSES

Abstract

In this study, we compared the accuracy of using cytological and histopathological methods to diagnose superficial masses, examining the discrepancies between these methods to clarify the clinical usefulness of cytology. Complete agreement (CA) was demonstrated in 62.62% of the masses, partial agreement (PA) in 15.10% of the masses, and disagreement (DA) in 22.28% of the masses. The accuracy in identifying cell origin was 70.05%. When diagnosing neoplasia, cytology exhibited 68.62% sensitivity and 77.22% specificity; its positive predictive value was 92.53% and negative predictive value was 37.42%. The overall agreement in diagnosing malignancy was 70.3%. We accurately diagnosed certain neoplasms based on specific cytological characteristics. Even when handling uncertain samples, cytological examination yielded high sensitivity and positive predictive values for diagnosing malignancy; this should be sufficient for veterinary clinicians to schedule further treatments.