Peripheral Lymphadenopathy in Children, Comparison of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology with Open Biopsy

Objective: To compare the results of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) with open biopsy in cases of Peripheral Lymphadenopathy. Design: A comparative study. Place and duration of study: Department of Paediatric Surgery & Department of Pathology, Nishtar Medical College & Hospital, Multan from January 2004 to September 2004. Subjects and methods: Patients presenting with Peripheral Lymphadenopathy in Paediatric Surgery out patient department were included in study. Relevant history and clinical findings were entered in performa and patients were submitted to investigations like FNAC and open lymphnode biopsy, after getting consent, on OPD basis. Results: Results of both FNAC and histopathology in 54 patients were available for comparison at the end of study. FNAC showed tuberculosis in 36 (66.67%), lymphoproliferative process in 16 (29.63%) and poor yield in 2 (3.71%) cases. Whereas open lymphnode biopsy on histopathology confirmed tuberculosis in 42 (77.78%), Hodgkin`s lymphoma in 4.(7.42%), Non Hodgkin`s in 6 (11.13%) and reactive hyperplasia in 2 (3.71%) cases. Sensitivity of FNAC in tuberculosis was 85.7% with a specificity of 100% in cases of tuberculosis while it was 71.5% in cases of lymphomatous process with an overall sensitivity of 78.5% in peripheral lymphadenopathy. Conclusion: In our setup lymphnode biopsy should be performed in all suspected cases to avoid long term morbidity and mortality especially in clinically malignant illnesses.