Role of transthoracic fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in diagnosing 170 patients of non-resolving pneumonias was studied. There were 117 males and 35 females in the age range of 3 to 72 years. The neoplastic lesions diagnosed by FNAC included 51 primary lung cancers, 6 metastatic deposits, 1 malignant mesothelioma of pleura, 1 Hodgkin's disease and 4 thymomas. Benign lesions included S6 pneumonias and abscesses of bacterial and chemical origin, 35 pulmonary tuberculosis, 2 fungal granulomas and 1 sarcoid granuloma. Aspiration cytology was inconclusive in 13 cases. The sensitivity of FNAC was 95.5 per cent in diagnosing malignant lesions accurately while the accuracy of cytological characterization was 95.3 per cent. There were no false positive reports. FNAC also helped in diagnosing sputum-negative pulmonary tuberculosis. Minor complications like syncopal attacks and haemoptysis of less than 5 mL occurred in 8.2 per cent of patient.

Colloid cysts of the third ventricle of brain comprise 1-2% of all intracranial tumonrs [1]. They-are increasingly being discovered incidentally, often in patients complaining of headache [2]. We came across two such cases in a large tertiary care service hospital in the past 20 years. Second case also had associated visual disturbances and seizures. Both met 'with fatal outcome. Autopsy revealed presence of colloid cyst in the third ventricle in both cases. It is proposed that to avoid fatal outcome in a patient reporting with frequent attacks of headache, the presence of colloid cyst in the third ventricle should be considered in differential diagnosis. In such cases,~T scan or MRI study of brain becomes an essential diagnostic tool.