Cytomorphological study of lymph node lesions: a study of 250 cases

Abstract

Introduction: Lymph node enlargement is frequent presentation in all age groups with a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from infections to malignancy. Therefore, management of cases depends on lymph node pathology, which can be studied by collecting material through fine needle aspiration method that can be used as an outpatient procedure. Objectives: The study was undertaken to assess the cytomorphological features and incidence of various lymph node diseases on fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and to analyze the utility and diagnostic importance of FNAC in lymph node diseases. Materials and Methods: In the study, total of 250 patients were selected who had presented with lymph node enlargement at Department of Pathology in our Tertiary Care Centre. Results: In this series of FNAC, cervical lymph nodes were involved in majority of 171 (68.4%) cases. The age of patients ranged from 6 months to 92 years with slight male preponderance. Tubercular lymphadenitis comprised the majority (50.8%) followed by reactive lymphoid lesions (20.8%), metastatic malignancies and acute suppurative lymphadenitis (8.8%) each, granulomatous lymphadenitis (8.4%), chronic nonspecific lymphadenitis (1.2%), necrotizing lymphadenitis (0.8%) and lymphoma (0.4%). Conclusion: FNAC is a simple, safe, reliable, inexpensive and the most diagnostic tool in early detection of lymph node lesions.