Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) Lymph Node - A Diagnostic Tool for Histopathological Diagnosis in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Background: Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) is used to evaluate the nature of the lesion. Lymphadenopathy in head and neck region have wide spectrum etiology vary from benign reactive hyperplasia to tubercular granulomatous lesion to malignancy. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity and predictive value in tuberculosis and metastatic carcinoma. Methods: A total of 70 patients out of 180 patients at Geetanjali Medical College & Hospital, Udaipur, Rajasthan, who underwent FNAC were evaluated by histopathological examination for correlation. Aspiration smears and histopathological slides were evaluated and results were calculated for sensitivity, Specificity and predictive value. Results: Reactive lymphadenitis was seen in 37 patients followed by tubercular granulomatous lymphadenitis in 17 patients and malignant lesions in 16 patients. Histology revealed 16 patients of tubercular lymphadenitis, 41 of reactive changes, 11 of metastasis in lymph nodes and 5 of lymphomas. Correlating the findings, we could achieve 100% sensitivity and 96.7% specificity for tubercular lymphadenopathy and for metastatic it was 98.5% and 100% respectively. Conclusions: We have discovered FNAC an agreeable instrument in the conclusion of tubercular and harmful lymphadenopathy. FNAC utilized as a part of conjunction with clinical discoveries, radiological and research center examinations can be a financially savvy strategy for the determination of lymphadenopathy