Spectrum of histopathologic diagnosis of lymph node biopsies: A descriptive study from a tertiary care center in South India over 5½ years

Abstract

Lymphadenopathy is a common clinical problem and biopsies undertaken to determine the cause of nodal enlargement may be neoplastic or non-neoplastic. The former are mainly lymphohematogenous malignancies and metastases while the causes of non-neoplastic lymphadenopathy are varied. This study was undertaken to determine the histopathological spectrum of lymphadenectomies. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study wherein 1010 cases of histologically diagnosed peripheral lymph node biopsies in the Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry from January 2007 to June 2012 were reviewed. Surgical resection specimens with lymph node dissection were excluded from the study. Neoplastic lesions were more common comprising 53% (535 cases) and included 32.1% (324 cases) of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 12.4% (125 cases) of Hodgkin lymphoma and 8.5% (86 cases) of metastatic lesions. The non-neoplastic lesions were 47% (475 cases), which included 21.6% (218 cases) of non-specific reactive lymphoid hyperplasia, 6.8% (69 cases) of other reactive or specific lymphoid hyperplasia, 18% (182 cases) of tuberculous lymphadenitis, 0.6% (6 cases) of other granulomatous lesions. Lymph node biopsy plays an important role in establishing the cause of lymphadenopathy. Among the biopsied nodes, lymphomas were the most common (44.5%) followed by non-specific reactive hyperplasia (21.6%), tuberculous lymphadenitis (18%) and metastasis (8.5%).