Comparative study of fine needle aspiration cytology and histopathology in diagnosis of superficial lymphadenopathies

ABSTRACT

A series of (100) enlarged superficial lymph nodes involving cervical, submandibular, supraclavicular and axillary regions was examined by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). The results of FNAC were compared with histological results. Three smears were inadequate for study and excluded from data analysis. Of the remaining (97), (50) were cytologically benigan and (47) were malignant including (42) cases of metastatic tumor and (5) of malignant lympho-mas. (97 percent) sensitvity, (100 percent) specificity, (3 percent) false negative, false positive and (98 percent) accuarcy for FNAC of enlarged lymph nodes were statistically analyzed from this study. A good discrimination could be made between benign and malignant lesions. However, FNAC cannot be used as specific tool to differentiate the various benign lesions. The diagnosis of metastatic malignancy of lymph nodes would have been definitely obtained by cytology with high accuracy without the need for biopsy. This simple, reliable, inexpensive techniques would be of immense benefit in diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma in superficial lymphadenopathies. However, the cytological evaluation of the type of metastasis would not always be possible even upon re-examination of the smear.