Cytological examination of lymph nodes in metastatic disease.

Volume : VII, Issue : VIII, August - 2018

Dr. Anil Meena, Dr. Ajay Patel

Background: Lymphadenopathy is a heterogeneous entity with many underlying causes, ranging from self–limiting benign

disease to severe neoplastic proliferations. Fine–needle aspiration is a cost–effective and reliable tool for initial investigation of

enlarged lymph nodes.

Materials and Methods: A study was conducted in department of pathology Gajra Raja Medical College Gwalior on 142

patients with metastatic disease in order to evaluate the efficacy of cytology in diagnosing malignancies metastatizing to the

lymph node and predicting their primary origin as well as to find the relative frequency of different malignancies. The findings

were also correlated with histopathology.

Results: Cervical lymph nodes were the most frequently involved group, followed by axillary, supraclavicular, and inguinal lymph

nodes. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma were the most common cytological diagnosis. Among the cases

with known primary tumors, head and neck was the most common site followed by east carcinoma. Most common lymph node

group to be aspirated in cases with unknown primary was cervical lymph node, and SCC was most frequently diagnosed cases.

Conclusion: Fine–needle aspiration cytology has a very high sensitivity and positive predictive value and hence, a presumptive

diagnosis can be made along with the detection of the primary site in case of metastatic disease.