Abstract
Background: Axillary lymphadenopathy (LAP) is one of the most common pathologies encountered in daily practice. The aim of this study is to evaluate the demographic, ultrasonographic, and biopsy findings of patients who underwent an excisional biopsy to distinguish between benign and malignant LAP of the axillary region. Methods: Patients who underwent an excisional biopsy between January 2008 and June 2013 in Samsun Education and Research Hospital were evaluated retrospectively. The exclusion criterion was patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer before admission. According to their pathology results, 23 patients were classified as Group 1 (n=4) and Group 2 (n=19) based on the presence of malignant and benign lymph node involvement, respectively. The demographic data (age and gender) and ultrasonographic findings (shape, diameter, and number of lymph nodes) of the two groups were then compared. Results: Seventeen (73.91%) of the patients were female, and 6 (26.09%) were male. According to the pathology results, a malignant lymphoma was diagnosed in four patients in Group 1. Granulomatous lymphadenitis (n=6) and reactive lymphadenitis (n=13) were diagnosed in Group 2. There was no statistical difference between the groups in terms of age (55 vs 47 years). There was a statistically significant between-group difference in gender, with a male gender predominance in the malignant lymphoma group (p=0.04). In Group 1, all the patients (100%) had multiple enlarged lymph nodes, whereas only 11 (57.8%) of the patients in Group 2 had multiple enlarged lymph nodes. There was no significant difference between the groups in the numbers of lymph nodes (p=0.15). There was statistically significant difference between groups in terms of lymph node diameter (45 vs 26 mm) (p=0.02). Conclusion: Ultrasonography (US) is a valuable tool in the diagnosis of patients with axillary LAP. Our findings suggest that a histopathological examination is warranted in male patients with an axillary LAP larger than 2 cm determined by US
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