The Role of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology and Frozen Section Histopathology in the Management of Parotid Gland Tumours: A 5- Year Experience in a UK Teaching Hospital

Multiple studies exist outside the UK evaluating both fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and frozen section histopathology (FS) in the management of parotid tumours. There is contention regarding use of FS to base treatment decisions. Our objective was to clarify whether the findings from our UK study are in agreement with the world literature.

We conducted a retrospective review of all patients undergoing parotid surgery by the same ENT surgeon at our institution over a 5 year period. We collected data on age, gender, FNAC, FS and final histological diagnosis.

75 patients were identified. 55 had diagnostic pre-operative FNAC and 17 had intra-operative FS. The accuracy of pre-operative FNAC was 80% and concordance with final histology was 80.5% for benign lesions and 75% for malignant. Equivalent results for FS were 94%, 92% and 100% respectively.

FS was more accurate than FNAC, particularly in detecting malignant lesions. Where pre-operative FNAC remains non-diagnostic, FS may facilitate detection of malignancy and guide intra-operative decision-making.

Keywords: Cytology, frozen section, histopathology, parotid, salivary, tumour, neoplasm.