A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF PATIENTS WITH CERVICAL LYMPHADENOPATHY BY FNAC AND ITS HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CORRELATION

ABSTRACT

Background- Cervical lymphadenopathy is one of the most frequent clinical presentation of patients attending out patient department and also the most common manifestations of underlying pathology of the head and neck region, with numerous differential diagnoses such as neoplasms and infections Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is considered as a safe, easy, quick and also the first line diagnostic technique for evaluation of cervical lymphadenopathy. The study comprised of 150 Materials and methodpatients clinically presenting with cervical lymph node swelling coming for FNAC to the department of pathology. Out of 150 patients, 25 patients underwent surgery and histopathological correlation was done for these patients. Results: Among the 150 cases majority of the patients were males 70 % with MF ratio 2.331.Age of the patients ranged from 1 to 90 years with a mean age of 40.44 years.Most of the lymph node lesions were seen in the age group of 21-30 years(20.67%). Level IIb lymph node was most commonly affected(36%).In FNAC 63.70 % cases were benign and 36.29 % cases were malignant.Among the benign lesions Reactive lymphoid hyperplasia was most common(25.9%) and in the malignant lesions metastatic carcinoma was most common(19.25%). In HPE 82.5% were benign and 17.5% were malignant.There was a strong correlation among the FNAC and HPE findings where reactive lymphoid hyperplasia was found to be most common benign lesion. Conclusion: Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology is a rapid, safe, efficient, cost-effective and the first line investigation for diagnosis of cervical lymph node lesions. Histopathological examination however remains the gold standard for definitive diagnosis of in certain malignant lymph node lesion.