Tissue effects of fine needle aspiration on salivary gland tumours

Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a widely used diagnostic procedure to evaluate lesions in the salivary glands. Though regarded as a safe and reliable procedure, a variety of histological changes following FNAC have been reported. We studied the FNAC related tissue changes in 50 neoplasms of the salivary gland and the impact on subsequent histological evaluation. FNAC induced changes were found in 34% (7/50) with needle tract (10/50)and infarction (7/50) as the commonest changes. These changes did not interfere with the subsequent histological evaluation of the tumours. We conclude that knowledge of a previous FNAC and awareness of its effects on histology may avoid potential misdiagnosis, though the incidence of significant changes is small.