Diagnostic accuracy of robinson's cytological grading assuming modified scarff bloom richardson's histological grading as a gold standard in malignant neoplasms of breast

Breast carcinoma is one of the leading cause of malignancy in females. The diagnosis of breast carcinoma is often made by fine needle aspiration cytology, which is quick and non invasive procedure to assess in vivo tumor grade. Cytological grading in aspiration of breast malignancies is a useful tool for surgical maneuvar and prognosis. The aim of present study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the Robinson's cytological grading of breast carcinoma assuming the Elston's modification of Bloom Richardson's histological grading as a gold standard and to assess the importance of cytohistological grading in predicting prognosis of breast carcinomas. The fine needle aspiration smears were stained with papanicoloau and H&E stains & graded using the Robinson's cytological grading system and correlated with modified scarff bloom Richardson's histological grading (Assuming as gold standard). The present study showed that the cytological grade correlated well with the histological grading (p<0.01), diagnostic accuracy was 75.71% and higher grade was associated with nodal metastasis. Hence the cytological grading and typing should be routinely incorporated in the cytology report and they can be of great value in guiding the choice of the treatment protocols.