CT guided fine needle aspiration cytology of thoracic mass lesions: a prospective study of immediate cytological evaluation.

To evaluate the role of CT guided FNAC as diagnostic and supportive investigation for thoracic lesions, 190 patients were studied during two years period from March 2003 to February 2005 in our institution. A total number of 163 (85.8%) lung lesions, 22 (11.6%) mediastinal lesions and 05 (2.6%) pleural lesions were obtained; only neoplastic lesions were categorized as per WHO classification. The diagnostic sensitivity for malignancy was 97.71% and specificity 100%. Though our priority was cytological assessment, the cytological diagnosis was corroborated with clinico-radiological parameters and transbronchial biopsies whenever applicable.