A Comparative Study of Cytomorphological Patterns of Lymph Node Aspirates in Paediatric and Adult Populations

Introduction: Lymphadenopathy is one of the most common clinical presentations of patients. Lymph node is a commonly aspirated organ for diagnostic purposes. Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) of lymph node has become an integral part of initial diagnosis and management. Aim: To compare the cytomorphological patterns of the lymph node lesions in the paediatric population with that of the adult population and to correlate with the available histopathological diagnosis. Materials and Methods: It was a retrospective observational study of lymph node lesions conducted at a rural tertiary care referral institute, PES Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PESIMSR), Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, India, from January 2017 to June 2018 for a period of 18 months. Cytology smears were retrieved, reviewed and analysed. Cytological diagnosis was compared with available histopathological diagnosis and concordance was calculated. Chi-square test was the statistical tool used to analyse the data in the study. Results: Two hundred and seventy four cases were analysed. Adult population constituted 225 cases (82.12%). Paediatric population constituted 49 cases (17.88%). Reactive lymphadenitis was the commonest pattern in both the groups. Chronic lymphoproliferative lesions {4 cases (1.7%)} constituted the least common lesion in adults and mycobacterial lymphadenitis {1 case (2.04%)} constituted the least common lesion in paediatric population. Conclusion: Distribution of cytological patterns of lymph node lesions in paediatric and adult populations are different and are found to be statistically significant. Cytological evaluation of lymph node lesions has a high diagnostic efficacy for the diagnosis of neoplastic lesions.