DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2020.v08i10.029

Pages: 2366-2370

Background: Lymphadenopathy is a common presenting feature in various non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions. Fine needle aspiration cytology is a simple, quick, inexpensive and minimally invasive technique that can be used as a outpatient procedure to diagnose lymphadenopathies. This study was undertaken to assess the various causes of lymphadenopathy through FNAC, to see the distribution of lesions with respect to age, location and gender, and to assess the accuracy of lymph node FNAC in various non-neoplastic and neoplastic conditions. Methods: This was a retrospective study where total 2496 cases of lymph node FNAC were studied from august 2011 to July 2016 in the Department of Pathology of Calcutta National Medical College, Kolkata. The cytomorphologic features seen in the aspirates were analysed. Results: In this study, 2496 cases of lymphadenopathy were analysed. The age of the patients ranged from 3 months to 80 years. The male to female ratio was 1.12:1. Maximum number of cases were found to be in the age group of 11 to 20 years (24.2%). The most common lesion encountered was granulomatous lymphadenitis followed by reactive hyperplasia. Histopathology examination was done in 79 cases, out which only 3 cases showed discordance. Conclusion: FNAC is a safe, rapid and cost effective method in establishing the diagnosis in majority of cases of lymphadenopathy. It is therefore an important diagnostic procedure and prevents the patient from undergoing unnecessary surgery.