Abstract
Objective : We report herein the results of a questionnaire survey on the salivary gland aspiration cytology we performed in 2011.
Study Design : Cytotechnologists and pathologists in 55 hospitals returned responses to 9 questions.
Results : Of the hospitals, 79% had more than 300 beds. Up to 10 operations for salivary gland tumors were performed per year in 49%. Sixty percent performed fine needle aspiration (FNA) in all cases suspected to have a salivary gland tumor, 23% in selected cases and 17% never performed FNA. FNA was done at least twice in 48% and a cytotechnologist was present and handled the specimens at the bedside in 84% of the hospitals. Both Papanicolaou and Giemsa stains were performed in 91%. Although 45% of the respondents thought a diagnosis could be made by FNA in typical cases, another 55% found some difficulty in making a diagnosis. “The guideline for reporting for salivary gland aspiration cytology” was not used in 71% of the hospitals.
Conclusion : We recommend that aspiration should be performed at least twice while referring to the guidelines for differential diagnosis and stress the importance of sharing the experience in seminars to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of salivary gland aspiration cytology.
