A total of 105 cases of soft tissue tumours were studied by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). All the cases were corroborated by histological examination. Sixty five were benign, 33 were malignant and 7 cases were inconclusive. On histopathological examination, accuracy rate of benign tumours was found to be 90.6% and that of malignant tumours was 91.3%. The overall accuracy rate was 90.8%. So FNAC is to be considered as an useful cost effective procedure for the diagnosis of soft tissue tumours.

The study was undertaken to evaluate the reliability of ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in distinguishing benign and malignant lesions in the retroperitoneum and correlate the diagnosis by cytology of retroperitoneal masses with the results obtained by histology. The clinicopathological study was carried out in 50 patients presenting with retroperitoneal masses on ultrasonography. Fine needle aspiration under ultrasound guidance of these masses was performed by 20-22G needle after thorough clinical examination. Malignant lesion constituted the maximum number of cases - 31 (62%) followed by benign and inflammatory lesion - 16 cases (32%). Eleven cases out of 23 renal masses were Wilm's tumour, 4 were renal cell carcinoma and there was a single case of angiomyolipoma of kidney. Out of 20 cases with retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy 12 cases (60%) were inflammatory, mainly tuberculosis and 8 (40%) had malignancy. Out of the 7 cases of miscellaneous retroperitoneal masses, 3 were fibrohistiocytic tumour and 2 were myxoid liposarcoma. Ultrasound guided FNAB is an inexpensive, rapid, safe and accurate procedure for the diagnosis of retroperitoneal masses.

Bronchial brushing (BB) and the more recent trans-bronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) are well established techniques performed using flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope, for sampling trachobronchial lesions suspected of malignancy. Our aim was to assess the efficacy of these two techniques in diagnosing carcinoma lung, when used individually as well as in combination, taking bronchial biopsy as the "Gold Standard" diagnostic test. Of all the cases of suspected lung cancer received between ^1st January 2003 to 30 ^th September 2004, 181 cases were selected where flexible bronchoscopic samples of BB, TBNA as well as bronchial biopsy were taken. Samples were processed as per standard procedures of cytology and histology. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common lung cancer followed by small cell type. Sensitivity of BB was 81.5%; while that of TBNA was 62.5%. Specificity of BB and TBNA was 77.8% and 66.7%, respectively. Efficacy of BB was better than TBNA in diagnosing lung cancers. Combined use of BB and TBNA showed better sensitivity and accuracy than either techniques used individually. Bronchial brushing is a superior technique in the diagnosis of lung cancers than TBNA. Their combined use can further improve the chances of early detection of lung cancers.

The fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of liver was performed on 90 cases. The diagnostic yield was 83.4%. The main indication of FNAC was hepatomegaly with abnormal ultrsonographic (USG) / computed tomographic (CT) findings. The USG guided FNA was very helpful in making cytological diagnosis of hepatic masses in 90% of cases. Among the hepatic lesions 23.3% were benign, 67.7% were malignant, 6.6% were non-representative and 2.2% were suspicious of malignancy. Metastatic tumours were the most common and constituted 70.4% while the hepatocellular carcinoma accounted for 26.2% of malignant liver lesions.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the breast is very rare and is mostly seen in young puerperal women bilaterally or unilaterally and in older women with distinctly different clinicopathologic presentation. Bilateral NHL is rarely seen in very young non-puerperal patients and such an entity with bone marrow involvement along with a leukaemic phase in young patients has not been reported in literature. We report this case of a 13 year old girl who presented with bilateral breast lumps and malaise with blasts in peripheral blood smear. Fine needle aspiration cytology of breast helped in the diagnosis of NHL with leukaemic phase thereby preventing further unnecessary work-up. Examination of the bone marrow was adopted to stage the patient and initiate prompt treatment without delay.

A cytohistopathological study of a rare case of giant cell tumour of soft tissues in a 30-year-old male patient is presented. The cytological features when evaluated in conjunction with clinical and radiological features are sufficiently diagnostic. The primary knowledge of its existence and knowledge of its cytological features are important for a correct preoperative cytologic diagnosis.