Lymphadenopathy is one of the commonest clinical presentation of various neoplastic and non neoplastic diorders at all age groups. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a simple, quick, inexpensive and minimally invasive technique that helps in diagnosing multiple lesions avoiding the need for biopsy. The aim of the documented study is to observe the various cytomorphological patterns of lymphadenopathy through FNAC, and to assess their age and sex specific distribution.
This study was conducted on 570 cases of lymphadenopathy over a period of 18 months from july 2016 to Dec. 2017 in the cytopathology section of department of pathology, Govt. Medical College, Amritsar. Cytological diagnosis was correlated with details of relevant clinical findings and investigations.
Out of total 570 cases studied, Tubercular lymphadenitis was found to be most common presentation of lymphadenopathy amounting to 249 cases (43.68%) followed by Reactive lymphadenitis (164 cases, 28.77%), Metastatic lymphadenitis (95 cases,16.67%), Lymphoproliferative disorders (40 cases,7.017%) and Suppurative lymphadenitis (22 cases,3.85%) respectively. Highest incidence of lymphadenopathy was found in patients of 21-40 yrs age group (221 cases, 38.77%) followed by age group of 0-20 yrs (189 cases,33.16%). Male to female ratio was 1:1.04 with slight male preponderance.
The present study concludes that Tubercular Lymphadenitis is arguably leading cause of lymphadenopathy at all ages with maximum incidence in children and adolescents. It also highlights the usefulness of FNAC in the early diagnosis of various causes of lymphadenopathy differentiating neoplastic from non-neoplastic causes, thus helping the clinician in arriving at an early diagnosis and timely management without any unnecessary surgical intervention.
