Yield of Computed Tomography Guided Fine Needle Aspiration in Diagnosis of Suspected Cases of Lung Cancer: Experience of a Tertiary Care Hospital of North India

Background: Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy across the globe. CT guided FNAC of suspicious lung masses is a widely accepted and simple diagnostic method of relatively low cost with minimal complications.Methods: It was a prospective study conducted from February 2018 to February 2019 in PGIMS, Rohtak on thirty two patients of either sex having lung cancer suspected clinically or on Chest X-ray/CT Thorax who were subjected to computed tomography guided fine needle aspiration.Results: Most of the patients (79.98%) were in 41-70 years age group with 81.25% male 18.75% females and M:F 4:1. Mass was located on right side in 59% and on left side in 41% cases. Malignancy was diagnosed in 29(90.62%) cases whereas 3(9.37%) cases were inflammatory. Two patients (6.25%) had small cell carcinoma whereas 26 patients (65.62%) had non-small cell carcinoma. Out of these 26 patients, 14 had squamous cell carcinoma, 9 had adenocarcinoma and 3 had large cell carcinoma. One patient was found to have small round cell tumor. 3 patients (9.37%) had pneumothorax as a complication out of which two required chest tube drainage.Conclusions: CT guided FNAC is a simple, safe, and reliable procedure with high diagnostic accuracy for the diagnosis and sub typing of lung cancer. Though complications are rare, pneumothorax and hemoptysis are occasionally encountered but resolve with active management.Keywords: Lung Cancer; FNAC; CT Guided; Pneumothorax.