Role of fine needle aspiration cytology in the evaluation of the etiology of lymph adenopathy

Background: Lymphadenopathy is of great clinical significance as underlying diseases may range from a treatable infectious etiology to malignant neoplasms Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a reliable as well as an inexpensive method used to diagnosis of lymphadenopathy of various site. Aims: 1) To evaluate the usefulness of FNAC as a diagnostic tool in etiological causes of lymphadenopathy 2) To study the cytomorphological features associated with various lymphadenopathies. Methods: A prospective study was carried out at a department of pathology in a tertiary care hospital for a period of one years. A total 322 cases of the lymph node FNAC were studied and stained by Hematoxylin & Eosin, Giems Pap and Ziehl-Neelsen stained smears. Results: In this series of FNAC cervical lymph nodes were 256 (80%), and axillary lymph nodes were 20 (6.25%). The age of patients ranged from 1 to 70 years. FNAC diagnosis was found to be as follows: tubercular lymphadenitis in 146 cases (45.34%), reactive hyperplasia 58cases (18.01%), metastatic carcinoma 43 (13.35%), granulomatous lymphadenitis 45 (13.97%), non-specific lymphadenitis 2 (3.72%), acute suppurative lymphadenitis 10 (3.12%) and lymphoma 6 (1.86%). Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration cytology is a most diagnostic tool in the evaluation of lymphdenopathy for early screening and follow-up and performed in outpatients department.