ROLE OF FNAC AS A FIRST LINE INVESTIGATION TO IDENTIFY MALIGNANCIES IN CERVICAL LYMPH NODES

Abstract

Lymphadenopathy is the commonest clinical presentation encountered in outpatient as well as inpatient department irrespective of age [1].FNAC is a simple, early and rapid diagnostic procedure to identify an etiology in an enlarged lymph node. Objectives of this study were to study role of FNAC in evaluating enlarged cervical lymph nodes, and to categorize malignant cases into primary and metastatic lesions. Total number of cases were 530. Out of which 477 cases were benign/infectious and 53 were malignant. The age of patients in malignant lymph node aspirates ranged from 10 year to 81 year. Out of total 53 malignant cases, 48(90.6%) cases were metastatic lesions 5 cases (9.4%) were lymphoma. Metastasis to lymph node 48 cases (90.6%) was more common than primary lymphomas 5 cases (9.4%). Present study highlights the importance of FNAC. FNAC is a simple rapid cost effective in diagnosing patients presenting with cervical lymphadenopathy. It also helps to diagnose malignancy in advanced stage patients based on the FNAC diagnosis these cases can be managed on palliative care thereby saving the patient from excision biopsy.