Diagnostic Evaluation of Cervical Lymphadenopathy in FNAC Samples

Case Based Study in A Rural Tertiary Care Hospital

  • Volga Harikrishnan Saveetha Medical College, Saveetha Nagar, Thandalam, Chennai 602105, Tamilnadu, India
  • Sulochana Sonti Saveetha Medical College, Saveetha Nagar, Thandalam, Chennai 602105, Tamilnadu, India.
  • Chitra Srinivasan Saveetha Medical College, Saveetha Nagar, Thandalam, Chennai 602105, Tamilnadu, India
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21276/apalm.1935
Keywords: Cervical Lymphnode, FNAC, Reactive, Granuloma, Metastasis

Abstract

Background: Nowadays lymphadenopathy is a common clinical problem and it may be in a form of localized, limited, or generalized. Cervical lymphadenopathy can be due to infections, malignancies, autoimmune disorders and other miscellaneous conditions. To diagnose lymphadenopathy in a short time, a simple, cost-effective outpatient procedure Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is necessary. FNAC is an accurate procedure to diagnose lymphadenopathy cases. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the results of FNAC of nodes especially cervical lymphnodes in our institution. Methods: A retrospective analysis of cervical lymphadenopathy cases reported by FNAC procedure over the period of six months in Department of Pathology. Smears were stained with four different stains including Hematoxylin and Eosin stain, Papaniculaou stain and Giemsa stain. In suspected cases of Tuberculosis special stain like Ziehl-neelsen were performed Result: In this study age of the patient varied between 1 to 70 years. Most of the cases were benign in which reactive lymphoid hyperplasia was the leading one. The remaining cases were metastatic carcinoma which includes poorly differentiated carcinoma with unknown primary, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (Primary from carcinoma cervix, cheek and tongue), adenocarcinoma (Primary from lung and gastrointestinal tract) and an interesting case of follicular neoplasm of thyroid. Conclusion: Cytology has a high efficacy of diagnosis in patients with cervical lymphadenopathy. It also has the advantage of being able to predict the primary site (where origin of the tumor is unknown) in many cases. It should be considered as an important component of preoperative/pretreatment diagnosis.

Author Biographies

Volga Harikrishnan, Saveetha Medical College, Saveetha Nagar, Thandalam, Chennai 602105, Tamilnadu, India
Department of Pathology
Sulochana Sonti, Saveetha Medical College, Saveetha Nagar, Thandalam, Chennai 602105, Tamilnadu, India.
Department of Pathology
Chitra Srinivasan, Saveetha Medical College, Saveetha Nagar, Thandalam, Chennai 602105, Tamilnadu, India
Department of Pathology

References

1. Swapnil A, Rohit V Bhalara, Payal MS et al. FNAC of cervical lymph nodes. International Journal of Waste Resources: ISSN-2347-937X Vol: 2 No.1, August 2010
2. Mukul P, Kusum B, Biraj K.D, Anupam H. A clinicopathological evaluation of cervical lymphadenopathy in children (0-14 Years) by fine needle aspiration cytology and histopathological examination - A hospital based study. National Journal of Otorhinolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, Vol. 2(11) No. 2, August 2014
3. Babu GS, Gayathri R, Bina K et al. Cytohistopathological evaluation of the cervical lymph nodes by fine needle aspiration cytology. Journal of Cranio-Maxillo-Facial surgery,2014;3:101-5
4. Moinul HST. Evaluation of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of lymph node in Mymensingh. Mymensingh Medical Journal 02/2003; 12(1):33-5.
5. Jonas TJ, Nicole CS. Fine-Needle Aspiration of Neck Masses. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1819862-overview#a8.
6. Robert F. Lymphadenopathy: Differential Diagnosis and Evaluation. American Family Physician Journal. 1998 Oct 15;58(6):1313-1320
7. Maria I, Viggo B, Christoffer HH. Evaluation of cervical lymphadenopathy in children: advantages & drawbacks of diagnostic methods. Danish Medical Journal, 60/8. Aug 3013: 1-3
8. V Koo, TF Lioe, RAJ Spence. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis of granulomatous lymphadenitis. Ulster Medical Journal, 2006; 75(1)59-64.
9. Muhammad MM and Mulazim H B. Evaluation for Granulomatous Inflammation on Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology Using Special Stains. Pathology Research International Volume 2011, Article ID 851524, 8 pages
10. Anne R. W, Sadhana D. M, Sabiha A. M. FNAC in the diagnosis of lymph node malignancies: A simple and sensitive tool. Indian Journal of Medical Paediatric Oncology. 2012 Jan-Mar; 33(1): 21–24.
11. Madhavi M, Durga S, Arjun R J. Cervical lymphadenopathy – an unusual presentation of carcinoma of the cervix: a case report. Journal of Medical Case Reports 2008, 2:252.
12. Ghazala M, Amit K S, Mahboob H et al. Cytological evaluation of enlarged lymph nodes in metastatic disease: A hospital-based assessment. Clinical cancer investigating journal. DOI: 10.4103/2278-0513.152736
Published
2019-04-29
Issue
Vol 6 No 4 (2019)
Section
Original Article

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access at http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html).