Study of histopathological spectrum of diagnosis in lymph node biopsies in a tertiary care centre

Abstract

Objectives: Histopathological examination of lymph node is one of the gold standard test for the diagnosis of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions, as lymphadenopathy is a common presentation of large variety of disorders including benign and malignant. This study aims at identifying various histopathological lesions of lymph node, their patterns and frequency of occurrence. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study includes 70 histopathologically diagnosed cases of lymph node biopsies received by the department of pathology, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Medical College, Bengaluru from Jan 2017 to Aug 2018. Lymph nodes sent along with known primary malignant resection specimens were excluded from the study. Results: Out of 70 cases, non-neoplastic lesions were more common comprising of 57 cases (81.5%) and neoplastic lesions were 13 cases (18.5%).Non-neoplastic lesions included tuberculous lymphadenitis 27cases (38.5%), non-specific reactive hyperplasia 25 cases (35.7%), specific reactive lymphadenitis 3 cases (4.2%) and other granulomatous lesions 2 cases(2.8%). Neoplastic lesions included metastasis 7 cases (10%), Hodgkin’s lymphoma 5 cases (7.1%) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 1 case (1.4%). Conclusion: Non-neoplastic diseases were more common than neoplastic diseases. Among non-neoplastic, tuberculous lymphadenitis was the most common lesion and among neoplastic lesions, metastasis was more common. Keywords: Tuberculous lymphadenitis, Metastasis, Reactive lymphoid hyperplasia, Hodgkin lymphoma, Lymphadenopathy.