Ultrasound-guided aspiration cytology of retroperitoneal masses with histopathological corroboration: A study of 71 cases

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of retroperitoneal lesions is one of the most difficult areas in surgical pathology. Both primary and metastatic tumors can grow silently in retroperitoneum before the appearance of clinical signs and symptoms. Guided aspiration cytology has shown a promising role in diagnosis of lesions in this region. AIMS: This study was undertaken to evaluate the reliability of guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of retroperitoneal masses and to study the spectrum of retroperitoneal lesions in a rural tertiary care hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was done on 71 patients presenting with retroperitoneal masses over a period of 20 months in a tertiary care hospital. Ultrasound-guided FNAC was done and the smears were stained by MGG and H and E stains. Histopathological corroboration could be done on all neoplastic lesions along with some non-neoplastic lesions. RESULTS: Out of 71 cases, 48 cases (67.6%) were found to be neoplastic. Malignant tumors (35 cases) were more common than benign ones (13 cases). Malignant lesions were predominantly composed of lesions of lymph node (17 cases i.e. 48.57%) followed by sarcomas (5 cases) and germ cell tumors. Some uncommon retroperitoneal lesions like adrenal myelolipoma, renal angiomyolipoma, Burkitt's lymphoma and adrenocortical carcinoma were found in our study. Guided FNAC could diagnose all the malignant lesions with 100% accuracy except in 2 cases of poorly differentiated carcinoma which came out to be non-Hodgkin lymphoma on subsequent biopsies. CONCLUSION: Guided FNAC is an inexpensive, rapid and reliable method for diagnosis of retroperitoneal masses.