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Abstract

Objective
To assess the diagnostic accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in patients with lymphadenopathy.
Place & Duration of study
Department of General Surgery, Al Tibri Medical College Hospital and Lyari General Hospital Karachi, From July 2018 to December 2018.
Methodology
Patients who presented with lymphadenopathy of any superficial nodes of more than six months duration were included in the study. FNAC and excisional biopsy were done for the same lymph nodes. Ethical approval was taken from Hospital Ethical Board. Histopathology was performed to compare the findings on FNAC and H&E staining. Data were collected on specially designed form. Descriptive statistics were used to present data.
Results
A total of 56 patients with lymphadenopathy were managed. There 29 were males and 27 females. Most common anatomical area involved was cervical (n=44 - 78.6%), followed by axillary (n=8 - 14.3%) and Inguinal (n=4 - 7.1%). The most common diagnosis was tuberculosis (n=25 - 42.9%) followed by reactive hyperplasia (n=18 - 30.4%) and lymphoma was found in 2 (5.4%) cases on FNAC as concordant result with histopathology except for two cases in whom reactive lymphadenitis on FNAC turned out to be metastatic lesion and other as lymphoma on excisional biopsy. The sensitivity of FNAC for tuberculosis was found to be 98.1%.
Conclusions
The usefulness and reliability of FNAC in patients of lymphadenopathy in resource constraint set up is documented through this study. FNAC was found to be reliable, cost effective and less invasive diagnostic modality. Tuberculosis was the most common cause of lymphadenopathy.
Key words
FNAC, Cervical lymphadenopathy, Lymph node biopsy, Diagnostic accuracy.