Metastatic lymphadenopathy in Kashmir valley: a clinicopathological study.

BACKGROUND Lymphadenopathy is a common presentation in both benign and malignant diseases which need to be diagnosed without delay. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) helps us diagnose a disease and follow its course, including the response to therapy. AIM This study aimed to analyze the clinicopathological features of metastatic lymphadenopathy and the diagnostic utility of FNAC in our setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS This two-year prospective study included all the patients with metastatic lymphadenopathy, diagnosed with FNAC. RESULTS A total of 412 cases (male:female ratio, 1.3:1; age range, 3 to 90 years) were studied. Supraclavicular lymph nodes were involved most commonly (50.5%). The commonest metastatic tumor was squamous cell carcinoma in general (30.1%) and in males (37.6%), and infiltrating ductal carcinoma (25.3%) in females. Lung, with 64 (15.5%) cases followed by esophagus, 60 (14.6%) cases; breast, 49 (11.9%) cases; skin, 32 (7.8%) cases; and stomach, 25 (6.1%) cases were the most common primary sites of malignancy. In 69 patients, excision biopsy was performed. Histopathological findings correlated well with that of cytology in all these cases. CONCLUSIONS FNAC is an important tool in the diagnostic work up of metastatic lymphadenopathy, which in the hands of an experienced and skilful cytopathologist can avoid the need for excision biopsy.