Fine needle aspiration cytology of cervical lymphadenopathy with special reference to tuberculosis.

One hundred eighty cases of cervical lymphadenopathy have been studied by fine needle aspiration cytological examination followed by histopathologic examination of the excised lymph nodes. The diagnostic accuracy was 84.4% for tuberculous lymphadenitis by fine needle aspiration cytological examination. Observation of caseous necrosis (84.2%) and epithelioid cells (73.6%) were the most characteristic diagnostic features in the aspirated smears. Acid-fast bacilli were observed in 45.6% cases. Metastatic carcinoma also yielded a high diagnostic accuracy ie, 89%. Fine needle aspiration cytology has been found to be safe, quick, inexpensive with high diagnostic accuracy in cervical lymphadenopathy.