Aspiration cytology of the breast with immediate reporting: initial experience with 1000 patients in a district general hospital.

A total of 1000 patients with a palpable localized breast mass were assessed clinically at a surgical breast outpatient clinic and fine needle aspiration cytology was performed and immediately reported. This large series was undertaken by one surgeon and one pathologist, neither of whom had any previous experience with such a combined clinic, and the pathologist initially had only minimal experience of breast aspiration cytology. The results show a diagnostic accuracy of 96.9%, a positive predictive value of 98.4%, and a negative predictive value of 95.7%, and indicate that the provision of such a facility in a district general hospital is of benefit in the diagnosis of palpable localized breast lesions.