Shayfa Palliyalil1, Mini B.2
BACKGROUND
“Lymphadenopathy’’ refers to nodes that are abnormal in size, consistency, or
number. It is designated as generalised’’ if lymph-nodes are enlarged in two or
more non-contiguous areas. Approximately three fourths of patients presenting
with unexplained lymph-node enlargement have localised lymphadenopathy,
whereas one fourth have generalised lymphadenopathy. In the present study an
attempt is made to identify and categorise various neoplastic versus nonneoplastic
lesions in patients presenting with generalised lymphadenopathy in a
tertiary care centre.
METHODS
A cross sectional study of 100 lymph-node biopsies was conducted. After adequate
fixation in 10 % formalin, tissues were routinely processed and stained with
haematoxylin and eosin (H & E). Special stains like Ziehl-Neelsen and reticulin
were employed whenever indicated. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed
for all neoplastic lesions and for some cases of non-neoplastic lesions.
RESULTS
Amongst 100 cases of lymph node biopsies analysed in this study, 71 cases were
non-neoplastic and 29 were neoplastic. The most common non-neoplastic lesion
observed was granulomatous lymphadenitis (32 cases), followed by reactive
lymphadenitis (20). 25 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and 4 cases of
Hodgkin lymphoma were observed in the neoplastic group. In the age range of
4.5 to 77 years included in the study, major bulk of cases was found in the age
group of 11 - 20 years; out of this, 78.9 % were non neoplastic and 21.1 % were
neoplastic. It was observed that 100 % of cases in the age group below 10 years
were non-neoplastic, whereas in the age group above 70 years, all cases were
neoplastic.
CONCLUSIONS
Granulomatous lymphadenitis was the most common lesion observed, probably
because of high incidence of tuberculosis in this part of state. Morphological
evaluation by light microscopy supplemented by special stains and IHC are
necessary for establishing final diagnosis of generalised lymphadenopathy.
