Breast fine needle aspiration cytology practices and commonly perceived diagnostic significance of cytological features: A pan- India survey.

Background: Methodical and meticulous understanding of clinico-pathological procedures and decision making process of cancer diagnosis and identification of aspects that are well-suited for computer-aided analysis are first steps toward development of assistive computational tool for analysis of breast fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) slides.

Aims: To identify variables in practice of FNAC as used for diagnosis of breast lesions and commonly perceived diagnostic significance of cytological features for diagnosis of benign or malignant condition of breast lesions.

Materials And Methods: An India-wide questionnaire-based survey of cytopathologists/pathologists' breast FNAC reporting practices and their opinion on diagnostic significance of cytological features in diagnosis of benign or malignant nature of breast lesion were conducted.