CYTODIAGNOSIS OF HEPATIC LESIONS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH SERUM ALPHA FETOPROTEIN LEVELS

Abstract

Background: Liver is a common organ for lodgement of various infections and metastasis from other parts of body. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) plays a major decisive diagnostic role and combined with USG diagnostic accuracy is 90-95% minimizing the need of biopsy. An increased in serum AFP concentration has been observed in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) and is an important serum tumor marker. Methods: The present study was done, with the aim of studying the cytomorphological features of hepatic lesions and their association with serum Alpha Fetoprotein (AFP) levels. Study was conducted on 56 patients who underwent USG guided FNAC for diagnosis of liver lesions. Cytomorphological pattern of liver lesions were studied and serum AFP levels of the same cases were measured. Results: Maximum number of cases was in age group of 61-70 years. Male: Female ratio was 1.4:1. 82.1% cases were malignant. Most common malignancy was Metastatic deposits of Adenocarcinoma (MDA). HCC was diagnosed in 5.4% cases. Serum AFP levels in HCC were 459.93 ± 41.69 ng/mL.15.4 % of the cases of MDA and 8.3% of the cases of Metastatic deposits of Poorly Differentiated Carcinoma (MDPDC) showed raised serum AFP levels. Association between cytodiagnosis and serum AFP range was statistically significant. Sensitivity=100%, specificity=81.4%, PPV=27.3% and NPV= 100% were obtained when serum AFP was used to differentiate metastatic lesions with HCC taking < 8.5ng/mL as cut off. Conclusion: USG guided FNAC of the liver is a rapid, reliable and economical screening test. Serum AFP has been the most widely used tumor marker for diagnosing HCC but raised levels are also seen in other hepatic lesions decreasing its specificity. \nKeywords: Liver, FNAC, Serum Alpha fetoprotein levels