Role of biopsy in pediatric lymphadenopathy

To determine the role of lymph node biopsy in the diagnosis of lymphadenopathy and to find out the pattern of different diseases in relation to age, gender, and the site of lymph nodes involved. This retrospective study was carried out at the Histopathology Department of the Children's Hospital and The Institute of Child Health, Lahore, Pakistan, over a period of 9 years, from January 1999 to December 2007. Tissue samples were collected from 898 children presenting with lymphadenopathy, and the diagnosis was confirmed on histology and through various specific tests. The clinical data of the patients were collected from computerized hospital records. Among the total 898 consecutive lymph node biopsies, the most common pathology encountered was reactive hyperplasia in 356 children [39.6%], followed by tuberculosis in 262 [29.1%] and malignant lymphomas in 132 children [14.6%]. The rest of the lesions include; 72 cases of granulomatous lymphadenitis [8%], 13 of histiocytosis X [1.4%], 44 [4.9%] of metastatic tumors, 16 of chronic inflammation [1.8%], and 3 cases of Kikuchi's disease [0.3%]. The cause of lymphadenopathy was found to be significantly associated with age, gender, and site of the lymph nodes involved. Lymphadenopathy is a relatively common condition in the pediatric age group. Although 39.6% of children had reactive hyperplasia of unknown etiology, 60.3% children presented with a specific diagnosis

Clinico-morphological pattern of bone lesions in children

The present study was performed to find the spectrum of bone diseases in children and to correlate with age, sex, and site of origin. This was a retrospective study and consists of 95 cases of hone biopsies which were diagnosed in the Department of Pathology at the Institute of Child Health and Children's Hospital, Lahore during a period of six years [Jan 2003-Dec 2008]. These biopsies were evaluated on haematoxylin and eosin stained sections from paraffin embedded tissue blocks. Special stains were performed whenever required. Pyogenic osteomyelitis [OM] accounted for 35.78% of all bone pathologies followed by tuberculous osteomyelitis in 22.10%. Osteosarcoma [OS] was the most frequent [primary tumour of bone followed by Ewing's sarcoma [ES]. One case of metastatic bone tumour was also recorded. Osteochondroma, osteoma, aneurysmal bone cyst, fibro-osseous dysplasia, chondroma and simple bone cyst were also found in children. The bone tumours are relatively more prevalent in males