A retrospective study on role of fine needle aspiration cytology in diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy

Abstract

Background: Cervical lymphadenopathy is most commonly seen nowadays in clinical practice. The use of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the investigation of lymphadenopathy has become an acceptable and widely practiced minimally invasive technique. It is highly cost-effective and accurate as a first-line investigative technique for many inflammatory conditions, granulomatous disorders, and malignancies. Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic outcome and role of FNAC among patients presented with cervical lymphadenopathy of more than 3 weeks duration. Materials and Methods: In this study, secondary data pertaining to FNAC during the 2-year study period were analyzed. FNAC was done on patients having cervical lymphadenopathy of more than 3 weeks. Classification of the patients was done according to the diagnosis by FNAC. Data entry and analysis were done using MS Excel. Data were presented in the form of percentages and appropriate figures. Result: Of the 314 FNAC of cervical lymphadenopathy, 157 (50%) were nonspecific lymphadenitis, 113 (36%) were tuberculosis, 13 (4%) were metastatic, and 31 (10%) were abscess [Figure 1]. For 157 nonspecific lymphadenitis cases, further investigations such as sonography, CT scan, and excision biopsy were carried out at our institute. From this, ten were diagnosed with tuberculosis and five were metastatic. Conclusion: FNAC is cost-effective, specific, minimally invasive, and a relatively painless technique. This study suggests that clinical findings supported by FNAC are an effective first-line investigation for diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy.