Cytomorphological
study of
Lateral Neck Swellings
1016-1019
Correspondence
Manjula. K
Address- Asst. Profesor. Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College
Tamaka, Kolar, Karnataka-563101
Phone: 8951374212
E-mail: gkpmanju966@rediffmail.com
Background: Swellings in the neck may be due to various causes. These swellings can be divided into midline swellings and lateral neck swellings (LNS). The common swellings are lymph node swellings, salivary gland enlargement, thyroid enlargement and branchial cyst. A neck mass in a 50- year-old smoker is different from neck mass in 15-year-old with respiratory tract infection.
Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) has become an important first line of investigation in palpable masses. It is one of the most useful accurate, sensitive, inexpensive, and rapid investigation available in the assessment of patients with lateral neck swellings.
Aims: To find out the relative frequencies of various pathological conditions presenting as lateral neck swelling with respect to age and sex. And also to evaluate the role of FNAC in their diagnosis.
Methodology: This study was undertaken in the Department of Pathology, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, over a period oftwo years from January 2009 to December 2010. FNAC was done on patients who presented with lateral neck swelling. The cytological features were evaluated. The accuracy of FNAC was verified by histopathological examination in 70 cases.
Results: The study included 386 patients, with mean age of 24.5 years and male predominance. FNAC revealed that non neoplastic conditions of the LNS were in 251 (66.05%) cases, malignant neoplasms were in 104 (27.36%) cases and benign neoplasms were in 25(6.57%). Among the malignant neoplasms, metastatic squamous carcinoma was the commonest.
Conclusions: Reactive lymphadenitis is the commonest cause of LNS in children and in adolescence and squamous cell carcinoma is the commonest cause of LNS in patients older than 40 years. FNAC of lateral neck swellings is useful in diagnosis, can differentiate neoplastic and non neoplastic lesions.