Abstract :
Background: Lymphadenopathy is a sign of underlying infection, primary or metastatic malignancy. Fine-needle aspiration is a simple and reliable tool for its initial investigation.
Objectives: To analyse the cytomorphological features of malignant lymph node lesions and to determine the frequency of different lymph node malignancies.
Materials and Methods: It was an observational, retrospective study conducted in the cytology section of Department of Pathology, Govt. Medical College, Jammu. It included lymph node aspirates that were reported as malignant. May-Grunwald-Giemsa (MGG) and Papanicolaou (PAP) stained smears were examined under light microscope and the cytological features were studied.
Results: A total of 97 malignant lymph node aspirates were included in this study. Metastatic malignancy accounted for maximum number of cases (78, 80.4%) followed by lymphoma (19, 19.6%). Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common metastatic malignancy and also the most frequently diagnosed malignant lesion in our study (42, 43.3%). Cervical lymph nodes were the most commonly aspirated lymph nodes.
Conclusion: FNAC of lymph nodes is a simple and valuable tool in the diagnosis of lymph node malignancies.
Keyword :
Lymph node, FNAC, Malignant