Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a type of interventional cytology. It is a clinicopathological procedure involving the collection of cells from a lesion using a fine needle and syringe. The breast/mammary gland is one of the commonest organs in the body which may develop lesions/lumps requiring fine needle aspiration cytology. This test is ideally done as part of a triple test following clinical examination and imaging studies. Therefore the approach in fine needle aspiration cytology is multidisciplinary. This procedure has a high sensitivity and specificity in addition to several other advantages including the good turn round time, minimal side effect and cost of the procedure when compared to histology. It has proven to be a really effective method in the diagnosis of breast cancer when used as part of the triple test. The result is more accurate when it is done by an experienced cytopathologist. The complications from this procedure are rare and include infection, hematoma, pneumothorax and dissemination of the tumor.
Aim/Objective: To do a literature review on fine needle aspiration cytology as part of a triple test
Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration cytology has been an effective tool for screening for breast cancer for many years and it is very accurate when combined with clinical finding and imaging
