Reliability of fine needle aspiration and ex tempore biopsy in the diagnosis of salivary glands lesions

Interpretation of cytological material obtained by fine needle aspiration (FNA) of salivary glands is one of the most challenging areas in cytopathology. FNA is performed easily, it is minimally invasive, inexpensive, fast, reliable and provides valuable information to clinicians about the nature of the lesion and therapeutic modalities. Ex tempore diagnosis, frozen section (FS) is a diagnostic tool that is essential in determining the modalities of surgical treatment of lesions of the salivary glands. Today this method is used in determining the status of resection margins and infiltration of adjacent anatomical structures. The aim of this study was to present our experiences in the application of FNA and FS in the diagnosis of salivary gland lesions and to determine the sensitivity, specificity, predictive value, and diagnostic reliability of these methods.